


Lady Wolf

by Londonrose98



Series: The Wolf Pack [1]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: BAMF Rose Tyler, Bad Wolf, Defender of the Universe, F/M, Found Family, Immortal Rose Tyler, Married The Doctor/Rose Tyler, New Family, Pete's World (Doctor Who), Post-Episode AU: s02e13 Doomsday, Rose and TARDIS two sides of the same coin, Slowburn reunion between Doctor and Rose
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:27:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 103,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27843709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Londonrose98/pseuds/Londonrose98
Summary: This time it wasn't Rose's lever that slipped into offline mode; it was the Doctor's.Rose watches as her husband, her Doctor, her bondmate tumbles towards the void only to be saved by Pete at the last second.Now Rose is left with a space ship she doesn't know how to fly, a broken heart, a shattered bond, a legacy to fulfill, worlds to save, and a baby to raise on her own.How will she be able to do it all?
Relationships: Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler | Bad Wolf, The Doctor (Doctor Who)/Rose Tyler, The Doctor's TARDIS & Rose Tyler
Series: The Wolf Pack [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2038156
Comments: 108
Kudos: 93





	1. Post-Doomsday

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [A Place For Us To Dream](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3634875) by [dimensionhoppingrose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dimensionhoppingrose/pseuds/dimensionhoppingrose). 



> Inspired by A Place for Us to Dream

Chapter 1

Rose

Post-Doomsday

The wind stopped. 

The noise stopped. 

The ring on my finger felt heavy, heavier than it ever had before. 

My feet barely touched the floor before they were flying towards the wall. 

That godforsaken white wall. 

The breach. 

The closed breach. 

I collapsed against the wall in shock. 

I was slamming my hands against it over and over again. 

“No! Noo! Give him back! Open! Give him back! You can’t have him too!” The wall didn’t answer my pleas. Neither did he. 

He was gone. The void had sucked him up only for at the very last minute to be saved from eternal agony by Pete. A different unending torment. Saved from one only to be thrust into another. 

My hands slid down to my lap, and I rested my head against the white wall. I was numb with shock; I couldn’t move. He was gone. The Doctor was gone. My Theta was gone. My husband was gone. My Soulmate was gone. I am going to stay here forever. The last place I saw him. Until I turn into nothing, I will be here. I will wait; maybe he will find a way back. Maybe he was wrong, and the void could be traversed again after it was closed. 

The room was silent, except for my quiet sobs. I guess that made it easier to hear them. The voices. People were coming. Probably Torchwood People. Good, they should see what it is they did. What agony they caused. They wouldn’t be able to move me. I would stay here forever. A reminder of what they did, staring them in the face. 

_"You have to get up. You need to save yourself. You need to save the TARDIS."_

The voice echoed in my head. At first, I thought it sounded like him, but then I realized that was right. The voice sounded familiar, like I’d known it all my life. My conscious, maybe. Whatever it was, it made sense. It was just me left here, and the TARDIS was too. Torchwood would never let her go if they found her also. I couldn’t let them defile his home, my home. Our home. 

I push myself up on wobbly legs. The head rush that came with the sudden motion gave way to the blinding pain in my head. I knew deep in my soul that the pain was my bond with him. Our soulbond, our marriage bond. Severed. Broken. I would have to deal with that later. The pain and the reality of a broken bond. 

Once my legs were steady enough, I made my way out of the white room. I didn’t look back at the wall. I stayed out of sight, but the voices hadn’t reached this level yet. They were still clearing the floors. I found the TARDIS right we had left here. She was standing there in all her beautiful blue glory. The door open as I reached her; I hadn’t even reached for my key yet. It would be a long time before I realized how significant that moment was. She didn’t look any different on the inside. Still coral, still beautiful. But she felt different; she felt sadder. The lights were dimmed, and she was giving off low sounding hums. As if she was crying. 

I walked up to the consul. I put my right hand on the only part that wasn’t covered in buttons or knobs or anything else. 

“Please. You need to help me. I don’t know how to fly you, but we need to get out of here. He’s gone, but we need to save ourselves. Show me a sign. Show me what to do, to get out of here.” My voice was small and choked with tears. 

She let out another hum: this one different, more alert. I looked up from my hand. There was a spotlight coming from who knows where. It was shining on a button. 

I pushed it. 

The light moved to another button. I pushed that one. 

This time a knob. 

Another button. 

A twirly thing. 

Another knob. 

And finally, the lever. 

I had seen him do this sequence before. I remembered it now. It set us adrift in the time vortex. That worked. We didn’t have anywhere else to go. 

I pulled the lever. 

The TARDIS shook and rumbled for a moment before it stopped. I didn’t know if it had worked. I didn’t know how to read the curricular Gallifreyan. I guess there was only one way to check. I went to the door and opened it. I knew she would extend the atmosphere and keep me protected from the vortex. 

There it was. The time vortex. A swirling world of different colors. It was beautiful to look at. I had loved sitting in the doorway as we sat adrift. We would sit together, his arms around me, and just be together. It never lasted very long, he had a tough time sitting still, but he would do it for me. With me, I loved those moments. It hurt to look at the vortex now; it brought back a lot of memories. I closed the door and turned back away. I should have turned the other way because it was there, lying across a coral strut. Right where he had tossed it before all of this had happened. 

His jacket. 

The tan trench coat that he always wore no matter what the temperature was. He only ever took it off when he was getting angry at whatever it was we were fighting. For today, that had been the Daleks and the Cybermen. Both formidable enemies that never seemed to leave him alone. They haunted him, always popping up whenever we were sure they were gone. 

I grabbed the arm of the coat and pulled off the coral strut. It smelled just like him. I made it a few steps away from the door towards the consul, but my legs collapsed under me. A sob broke out from my chest, and the broken sound echoed around me. I balled his jacket up and curled on the floor. 

And there on the floor, clutching his jacket, I let it all out. 

I cried for Pete. The alternate version of my father, who I never really got to know. He had risked everything coming back, and I owed him my life for that. But he would never know because he was on the other side of the wall.

I cried for Mickey, my best friend from nappies, who I would never see again. I had mourned him once before when he had left once before, but this was a different kind of pain. Combined with everything else. 

I cried for my mum. She was gone from me as well. Trapped on the other side, but I knew she would be okay. I had seen the way she looked at Pete, and he, her. They were each other’s second chance to be happy. I hoped they were. I had to believe that they would be. 

I cried for him. 

My husband was taken from me far too soon. I was the one supposed to leave him in 50 years. It would have been hard for him in unimaginable ways, but he would have our memories of decades together. Saving the universe and running everywhere. We had only been married for a few months. We had come to tell my mum today, before all this. It was supposed to be a happy trip to Earth. Not this. 

He was gone, trapped in another universe. And I was here, lying on the floor of a machine that I don’t know how to fly. Mourning everything and everyone I had ever known and loved being taken from me. 

But most of all, I cried for myself. 

I had no idea what to do now. Where to go? How to get there? Who to be? None of it mattered because I was alone. Alone except for the TARDIS. 

I cried, and I cried. I cried until I was too exhausted to do anything else. I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep right there on the floor. Clutching his jacket and welcoming the darkness. 


	2. Everything Changes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back, this is a bit of a small chapter at least for this fic but it has a lot of important content. 
> 
> Hope you love it and if you do (Also if you don't) please leave a comment or a kudos or both!

**Chapter 2**

**Rose**

**Everything Changes**

I don’t know how long I laid there. There were periods of darkness and periods of numbness. Sometimes my eyes were open; sometimes, they were closed. I didn’t move. I didn’t eat. I was barely breathing. My head ached, our tattered bond causing pain all over my body. Everything hurt and moving made it worse, so I didn’t move. 

I could have been there for a few minutes or a few hours. But somehow, I knew it had been longer. 

Days. 

I was perfectly fine with lying here until I wasted away. The pain, physical and emotional, was already killing me. I should just let it. 

I almost did. 

But then the voice came. 

_ “You need to get up, Wolf.” _

I ignored it. It was a figment of my imagination; I was alone here. It probably meant that the starvation and dehydration were getting to me. That didn’t bother me much, that meant the pain would be over sooner. 

_ “Wolf, I know it hurts. It hurts me too, but it’s time to get up.” _

Some small part of me wondered why my consciousness was talking as if they weren’t part of me. Wondered why it was calling me Wolf. But the more significant part of me, the one in control, didn’t care. 

_ “Wolf, I am not your conscious. I am something else entirely, and you need to get up. You’ll die if you don’t get up, and we can’t have that. You have something to live for and something to fight for.” _

I would be lying if I said that my interest wasn’t piqued even through the pain. But the pain was so intense, even if I had wanted to get to. I didn’t think I could. The shattered ripped and shredded bond that once connected me to the love of my life in every way possible. It had left me immobile, and there was nothing I could do about it

_ “Fine. I didn’t want to do this yet, but we aren’t making any progress. I’m so sorry, my Wolf. This will hurt, but it’s better for everyone.” _

I wanted to laugh. The idea that something could hurt me more than I already was. It was an absurd idea. Then it happened. And it hurt. 

I don’t know if my eyes were closed on not, but all of a sudden, I was blinded by the brilliant, golden light. I tried to close my eyes to escape it, but they were already closed. I brought his jacket up and over my face, trying to block the light, but that didn’t work either. It was like the light was coming from inside my mind. Like the light was coming from me, as if I was glowing as bright as the sun. Brighter than the sun. 

The light was focused on something. I couldn’t tell where in my distorted state, but I knew it was inside my mind. Almost as if it were looking for something. I felt as the light found what it wanted. The light suddenly pulled all together and focus on what it found. The light had left the rest of my body. All of it suddenly on that one spot in mind. It began to burn. It burned so hotly that I wanted to look away, but it’s impossible to look away from something happening inside your mind. 

As the light burned, it also began building something. Building something around the spot that burned. At first, I thought it was growing around itself, but at the last second, the light jumped from out of the structure it had built and put the last brick in. 

The burn was gone. 

The light remained but not nearly as bright as before. 

The pain was gone. 

Not the pain from the light but the pain from the broken bond. 

My connection to him was gone, broken, or whole. I couldn’t find it. 

I panicked and began searching my mind for our bond. The last thing I had from him. 

I came up upon a wall. 

A brick wall that hadn’t been there before. 

The light, now so much dimmer than before hovered next to it. 

It glowed a little brighter, as if proud of its work. 

_ “I told you that it was going to hurt, my Wolf. But now the pain is gone. It needed to be done, or else you would have died. We all would have died.”  _ The female voice was coming from the light. I felt as if I had known the voice all my life. 

“What?” I said the words out loud as well as in my head. Why? I don’t know. 

_ “This is going to be a lot to explain. Why don’t you get off the floor and get something to eat from the kitchen before I start. You haven’t eaten in days, and our power is barely enough right now.”  _ She said. I couldn’t call it The Voice. The Light was also a good option, though. 

“I appreciate the concern, but before I do anything, you are going to tell what or who the hell you are?” I pushed myself up into a sitting position and leaned against the consul, waiting for an answer. 

Inside my mind, the light bobbed around for a moment. It was just floating there. I crossed my arms over my chest. 

_ “Alright. I should have known that would be your response. I am what you and the abandoner call the TARDIS or the Old Girl. And before you ask, no, communication like this has never been possible. When you looked into my soul, and I looked into yours, back when you became the Bad Wolf. We changed; we merged. We became two halves of a whole.  _

_ When he took the Bad Wolf out of you, and it caused him to regenerate, he didn’t take it all. Just enough that it would stop overpowering you. It was too much all at once; your human body was ready to handle all that we are. All that we could be, and it was killing you. There was still some in your mind, but it changed within you, it’s been working in your mind ever since. Changing you, merging us. I haven’t been able to communicate with you before because our connection was whole, wasn’t fully formed.”  _

My mouth dropped open, and I turned around to stare at the consul behind me. 

_ “Hello.”  _ If the light could have given a small little wave, it would have. 

“Changing me?” I was having trouble wrapping my head around what was happening right now. I think anyone would. 

_ “Yes. You are no longer human. You haven’t been human since you first looked into my soul. You haven’t aged since that moment and other things that weren’t possible before, now are.” _

“Yup. I think I need that food and maybe a drink.” With that, I shoved myself off the floor and on weak legs made my way to the kitchen. Which she had conveniently moved to right next to the consul room. 

\-------------------------------

After a plate of toast and jam and a very strong cuppa (with a splash of whiskey, that Jack had left), I made my way back to the consul room. 

_ “You know that you don’t need to be in the consul room to talk to me.” _

I ignored that, and this time sat on the pilot’s bench. 

“Ok. Go ahead.”

_ “When you became the Bad Wolf, you turned into a time goddess for the 45 minutes you held all of me in you. You controlled all of time and space for that short time. With it, you destroyed the Daleks that were attacking. You saved the Doctor and others from death. But all of the power in a body that was recently human, it was too much. And by recently human, I mean that anyone else looking into my soul would have burned up right then and there. But we were destined to be together, and you survived that moment, and I joined with you. It was changing you.  _

_ The Doctor saw that it was killing you, and he wanted to save you. So he took the power from you and into himself. It caused him to regenerate, and in that fog of impending death, he didn’t see that he had missed some. It never occurred to him to check you afterward, after his new regeneration had settled in and there was no immediate noticeable difference in you.  _

_ So I have been living in the back of your mind, helping you evolve and change. You haven’t aged since that day, but it was barely noticeable yet and went unseen. The changes that I have been enacting are also the reason you and he were able to bond. Human minds aren’t capable of merging the minds with another much less another species. Our merging is entirely new, it has never happened before, and I couldn’t imagine what else will happen or has happened until we figure it out together, except…”  _ The TARDIS trailed off. 

“Oh, what else could there possibly be?” My mind was reeling with all of this news, but at the same time, it was calm. As if it had already known. Maybe we really are two halves of a whole.

_ “There is one other thing that I know has changed. It’s the whole I needed you to get up in the first place. Our connection can sustain you without food or water for an unknowable amount of time. But it can’t sustain both of you, and you keep you both healthy.” _

“What do mean, “both of us”?” I was sitting on the edge of my seat. I somehow knew that she didn’t mean herself and me. 

_ “Our connection, the changes. They made you compatible with the Doctor in a way that you weren’t before. You carry a child.” _

Without meaning to my hands flew to my stomach. I had always seen women do that in films and thought it was stupid. I sent out a small, silent apology to all the women I had thought that about. 

“What am I going to do?” He was gone; I was alone. 

_ “You’re not alone. You have me. But I understand what you mean.” _

“I need to figure something out. We can’t stay up here in the vortex forever.” My mind was spinning a million miles a minute. 

“ _ Is there anyone on Earth that you can go to?”  _

My mother was gone, my friends from before wouldn’t understand. What about….maybe. That might work. I had an idea, but I still had no idea how to fly the TARDIS. 

“ _ But you do know, the best way to describe what you are now is part TARDIS. You are your own species. Not quite human, not quite a TARDIS, a chimera of sorts. All we need to do is unlock the information inside you. Now, where would you like to go?” _

“Sarah Jane’s. I don’t know where she lives, but she is the only person I can think of that might know what I am going through right now. That might be able to help.” I felt weird talking to nothing, so I focused on the consul. 

_ “I know where to go. Go the consul, the keyboard. Insert this address  _ 13 Bannerman Road _. Then I’ll spotlight the buttons like last time. We will have to work on unlocking all of the information in your head later. We are also going to have to work on your Gallifreyan.” _

“Yeah, we will deal with that one later.” I went to the consul and did as she said. Within moments we were shaking and rumbling before it stopped. 

It only took a few moments before there was a knock on the door. 

“Doctor? Are you in there?” Sarah Jane’s voice filtered through. 

I grabbed his jacket off the seat next to me and went to the door. 

“Doctor?’

I opened it, and Sarah Jane took me in. My tears staining my face and clutching his jacket as if it was all I had. 

“Oh, Rose. Come here.” She opened her arms, and I fell into them without another thought. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave some Kudos and comments for me, the feed my writer's lonely soul


	3. SJ and a Story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last expositional chapter, after this, we start getting longer and more episode-based. I hope you guys like it, leave a kudos or comment and it'll make my day.
> 
> *this takes place about 6 months before Sarah Jane Adventures

Chapter 3

Rose

SJ and a Story

I woke up in a bed that I didn’t recognize and panicked. The light in my head was quick to flash up and remind me of what had happened. 

_ “It’s ok, Wolf. You are at Sarah Jane’s, in her guest room. She led you in here a little after we got here. My box is downstairs in her kitchen, and so is she. I think she is making you some food to eat. Why don’t you come downstairs?”  _ My heart stopped racing, and I took a deep breath. I looked around for his jacket to see it rolled in a ball next to me. I wished I could put it on, but he was so much scrawnier than I was. It wouldn’t fit. 

After a quick stop in the bathroom and a small freakout at my appearance (tears caked through days old makeup, not a good look), I was downstairs and navigating my way to the kitchen by smell. 

I stood in the doorway for a moment. The TARDIS was parked directly in the middle of her kitchen. She worked around it flawlessly as she made some toast and eggs. I spotted a kettle on the stove and hoped it was almost ready. My mum always said a cuppa fixed everything. 

“Sorry about my landing job. I’m kinda new at it.” To her credit, she didn’t jump when I spoke, but she did turn towards me abruptly. 

“Oh, sorry. Didn’t mean to shock you.” She waved it off with a smile.

“Don’t worry about it. I made you some toast and eggs, and the kettle’s on. I figured you would be hungry. As for your parking job, I saw the doctor do worse. And He supposedly had been flying it for years.”

I gave her a small smile and held in my sob at her mention of him. I was never going to survive if I cried every time someone mentioned him. 

“I’m sure you have questions.” I sat at the table, and she set the food in front of me. 

“I do. But take your time, you don’t need to tell me all about it right now. Just eat and get your strength up, you look far too skinny to be healthy.” The kettle whistled, and she moved to make our cups. She turned around and looked at me a moment. 

“3 sugars and a drop of milk.” It wasn’t hard to guess what she wanted to ask. She nodded and turned back to the cups. 

After a few moments, she brought the steaming cups back and set one in front of me. She held her own between her hands as she sat across from me. She just sat with me; she didn’t stare or ask questions. Just sat and let me eat quietly. She also didn’t comment on the fact that his jacket was curled up on my lap. 

“I think...I think I need to talk about it now because if I don’t, I’m not sure that I ever will.” She looked me in the eye for a moment, I don’t know what she was looking for, but she must have found it because she nodded at me to go ahead. 

“After we saw you at the school and all that happened, things changed. Actually, after this thing that happened with a french girl and some robots.” I cringed, thinking about her and his infatuation with Reinette. But the weight of the ring on my finger brought me back. “The Doctor and I finally stopped avoiding what we both felt. We began “dating.” That’s not really a good word for it, though. Soon after that, the TARDIS got sucked into a parallel universe, and we got involved with what was going on there. There was this company creating Cybermen, and we ended up defeating them. My friend, Mickey, decided to stay there. He felt like he finally found his purpose.” I paused my story to take a breath. 

“Anyway, after that, the Doctor and I came back to this reality and did our thing. Going from place to palace, saving others, and generally having fun. All this time, our relationship was progressing, and after this time on a planet that was orbiting a black hole, it changed again.”

“A black hole? A literal black hole?” Sarah Jane asked.

“Yeah, although that’s a story for later. After the black hole and the awful things that happened there, we didn’t want to be apart. Separated again. So we got married, and we bonded in a Gallifreyan ceremony.” My right hand found my wedding ring and began twisting it around and around. 

“I always knew that you were special to him in a way, us other companions weren’t. I didn’t think he could bond with a human. I thought that was a time lord thing.” Sarah Jane was a good listener until you told her something she thought impossible, but either way, it was good to talk it all out. 

“Yeah, I have just recently found out how that was possible, and I’ll get there. We were married on the last planet in the Kasterborous System. The closest we could get to Gallifrey, it was just us and the TARDIS. After that, we continued, and we came to visit my mother, Jackie, and tell her about us being married because we just hadn’t had the chance yet. That was when we discovered the ghosts. That lead to..”

“The Battle of Canary Warf.” She cut me off. 

“You know then.” It already had a name, the worst day in my life had a name to go in the history books. 

“Yeah, that happened about three months ago. I saw you and who I assumed to be your mother on the list of casualties. That’s why I thought it was the Doctor coming to me when you got here. I thought he had finally decided to do something about his emotions, and he needed someone to talk to.” 

“They didn’t die. My mother, the Doctor. The ghosts were actually Cybermen trying to come through from the parallel universe that I mentioned before. We called it Pete’s World. The alternate version of my dad Pete and Mickey came over with these things called dimension hoppers, and we were trying to stop the Cybermen. Before we knew it were fighting Cybermen and Daleks and we were losing. The Doctor then comes up with a brilliant plan, as always, to save us. The Daleks and Cybermen had come through the Void to get her from the other universe, and the Doctor knew that if we opened the door to the Void that they would be sucked back in, to stay there for eternity.” My tea was getting cold, so I gulped down the last bit. Sarah Jane got up without a word and put the Kettle back on. 

“That sounds like a plan that he would come up with.” She said with a small smile as she sat back down. 

“There was only one problem. The void would suck back anyone who had crossed it before. Including Mickey, Pete, a few of their friends, and the Doctor and I. He figured that if they were already on the other side of the void that they wouldn’t be pulled in. They all decided to go back to Pete’s World, and my Mum went with them. She and Pete had the chance to be each other’s second chance, and I was all for it. The Doctor tried to send me with them, but I refused to leave him, and I reminded him of that rather quickly. He gave up the fight, and they left. Together the two of us got ready to set the trap and open the void. We found these mega clamps to hold onto and keep us out of the void and then set the trap off. The void opened, and the Cybermen and Daleks were sucked through almost instantly. But one of the Dalek’s hit his lever into the offline position, and if the void closed before they were all sucked up, there was no opening it back up. He let go of his mega clamp and managed to get the lever back into position again, but he could reach the clamp after that and had to hold on to the lever. The pull of the void was so powerful, and the lever was weak. His grip slipped, and he got sucked in towards the void.” 

Sarah Jane’s hands had made their way up to cover her wide open mouth. The kettle was whistling, but neither of us moved. I needed to get through this, or I was never going to make it. 

“Right before he entered the Void, Pete showed up and caught him. I don’t know how he knew, but he did. The Doctor slammed into him, and they had just a second to look at me before Pete slammed them over to the other universe. Within seconds the Void closed, and they were gone. Gone forever. There is no way to get back across the void. They are trapped in the other universe forever. And I am here, here with the TARDIS and a baby and absolutely no idea what to do.” 

I couldn’t handle her staring at me and got up. I took the kettle off the stove and went about making our tea. I had seen how she liked hers. It was a simple distraction, but it held for a moment. 

“A baby? I didn’t think that was possible. You’re a human and he’s a time lord.”

“It shouldn’t be, but it’s also the same reason we were able to bond. I am not human anymore.” And so, I told her everything the TARDIS had told me before. 

At the end of that tale, we were both crying, and our tea had gone cold. She got up out of her chair and pulled me up out of mine. We hugged for god knows how long and after a while we pulled apart. 

“Rose, I know we don’t know each other very well, and I don’t know why you chose to come to me after all of this. But I want you to know that I am incredibly honored. And that I will always be here for you whenever you need it. If you want to stay here forever and leave the TARDIS sitting in my kitchen, then you can. If you want to stay for a few days and leave, never to be seen again, you can, I won’t like it but you can. If you want to do something in between there, then you are welcome to. Whatever you want, I will help you, just tell me. You lost your mother and your husband, both people who should be with you forever. I will try to fill any role that you give me, Ok?” 

I was crying again, but this time not out of sadness but relief. I hugged her back and nodded into her shoulder. She clutched me close and held me.

“Come on. I think you should go back up to bed. I’ll be here when you wake up.” I let her lead me out of the kitchen and back upstairs to the guest room. I almost let her tuck me in, but I stopped myself before that happened. 

“Thanks, SJ,” I murmured as I got back under the covers. 

“SJ?” She asked gently from the door.

“Oh God, sorry it just came out. If you don’t like it..” I trailed off. 

“No, I like it. I’ve never had a nickname that I liked before. You can call me that all you want. Have a good nap, Rose.” She left the door open a crack, and I was asleep before my head hit the pillow. The craziness of the last few days and their events overwhelming me. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone likes it, leave a kudos or comment. See you in a few days


	4. A Message and a Surprise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in one day? I know, but I am on a bit of a roll today.
> 
> This one is short but it's definitely a little angsty. This is about as much Doctor/Rose content we are gonna get for a while. Just know that it will pay off in the long run. 
> 
> This one is where we start getting into the actual episode content and things actually start happening.

Chapter 4

Rose

A Message and a Surprise

I stayed with SJ for almost a week before I began to get a bit stir crazy. I think she was expecting it because when I told her it was time for me to go, she just nodded her head. I told her that I would be back, I would visit her all the time, and I would keep in touch. I gave her my phone number. It was weird to think she didn’t have it before and told her to call me anytime. She said the same to me and again said to me that I am welcome anytime. The guest room is always open. With a hug, I grabbed the bag of baby books she had gone out and gotten me and made my way back into the TARDIS for the first time in almost a week. 

Sarah Jane had gone in and gotten me some clothes and toiletries the second day I was with her. I wasn’t strong enough to do it yet, and she understood. The Old Girl opened her doors for me without me even asking, and I wondered if that was part of our connection. 

_“It is.”_ She chimed from inside my mind.

That was going to take some getting used to. An entirely different voice in my head that wasn’t mine. She had been quiet for most of my stay with SJ. Just popping up to reassure me that everything was okay and lulling me to sleep with some hums from the TARDIS. 

I set the bag on the bench and looked at the TARDIS consul. 

“What now? Let’s at least get up to the Vortex so SJ can have full use of her kitchen. Let me see if I remember properly..”

I made it about halfway through the inputs before I asked her for help. 

“ _Very good, we haven’t even unlocked your side of our connection yet. Once we get up to the Vortex, we will.”_ She hummed in my head while also matching the hums from the hull of the ship. She spotlighted the rest of the commands, and before I knew it, we were floating in the vortex. 

“Can I take a nap before we do the whole unlocking thing? I’m super tired all the time, SJ said it was a normal side effect of pregnancy.” I was getting better at talking with nothing, I would focus on one point on a wall or coral strut or the consul, and it wouldn’t be as weird. 

_“Of course, Wolf. Take your time. We have all the time in the world. Take care of our little one, that’s most important.”_

I grabbed the bag of books and went to lie down in bed. I stopped as I entered the hallway. She had moved three doors up for me. One lead into my bedroom from before the Doctor and I got together, the pink one. That didn’t feel right, and I wasn’t the same girl who wanted an entirely pink bedroom. The other door leads into the room that we had shared after our marriage. He rarely slept the whole night, but he always without fail would lie in bed with me until I had. I couldn’t go into our shared room without him, and I couldn’t look at his bedside table stacked with books he read as I slept the last night we were together. 

The third door was a new one. I hadn’t seen it before, but it reminded me of what mine had looked like before I had asked her to paint mine hot pink. I choose that one. I opened it up to find a bare room with no decorations. No personal objects that would send me spiraling. Nothing but a queen size bed on some dark wood framing and a matching dresser and nightstand. There was a door leading into what I assumed was a bathroom. I set the bag on the end of the bed and went into the bathroom. After a rushed bedtime routine, I changed out of the jeans SJ had gotten me and into a large sleep shirt that I found in the dresser. Once again, I was asleep before my head hit the pillow. 

\------------------------------

We developed a bit of a habit in the next few days. I would put off anything new, eat something, and then go to sleep. I didn’t know it was possible, but the ship began getting annoyed with me. After five days of this, she refused to let it go on. 

“ _No, you can’t go back to sleep. You need to get up and do something. I’m taking your bedroom away from you until you do something more than barely keep yourself alive for the child. Go to the library. I have put some books out for you to begin with. You have a lot to learn, and you need to begin.”_

“Alright, fine, bossy.” I wasn’t happy about it, but I knew she wouldn’t give me my bedroom back and I didn’t want to sleep somewhere else. That bed was glorious on my back, which always seemed to be aching since I found about being pregnant. 

I entered the library and true to form there was a stack of books next to my favorite chair. I made myself comfortable and began reading the first one on the top. It was, believe it or not, a book called “Gallifreyan for Dummies.” I chuckled softly to myself and rolled my eyes at the ceiling. 

“Very funny.” She gave a small hum back in response. 

This now began a new pattern. I would wake up when the Old Girl decided I needed to and began turning on all the lights. I would fix myself some tea and toast and go to the library. I would read whatever book she had out for and take extensive notes. I had never been a good note-taker before, but I guess this stuff mattered. Then after a few hours, she would chime, which meant lunchtime and a short nap. After the nap, a snack, and back to the library. Dinner and bed. It wasn’t much better than before, but she seemed satisfied that I wasn’t only surviving for my baby. 

One day I was reading a book on the multiverse when I saw it. When the wall between universes is opened and closed, it doesn’t always close all the way immediately. It takes time to fill all the cracks that were opened. I threw off the blanket on my lap, grabbed his jacket, my notes, and the book, my Gallifreyan dictionary, and flew towards the consul room. By the time I got there, the machines were already running simulations and scanning. 

There were some perks to sharing your mind with a sentient space ship. 

_“I heard that. And the simulations aren’t looking good. I have found one last crack, but it’s not nearly big enough to get through. Maybe, maybe we could send a message, but we would need a major power source.”_

“How big of a power source? And what kind of message?” I was breathless at the possibility of seeing him again, even if just for a moment. 

_“We will need to orbit a supernova. It would kind of be like a projection. You might not even look completely corporeal, like a ghost. He would need to travel to where we project. It will only be one spot. It’s possible, but it much just bring you more pain to see the man who abandoned us.”_

“He didn’t leave us on purpose Old Girl. It was an accident. Can we do it?” She had been so strong for me that I hadn’t seen her pain at losing him. 

“ _He promised always to be here, and now he isn’t. I know that it was crazy circumstances, but that doesn’t change it to me. Yes, we can do it. Set these numbers in the consul, and I need you to use your bond. Call to him, tell him to follow your voice.”_ A series of numbers flashed in my mind, and I did as she said. 

“My bond? How? You put it behind that brick wall in my head?” I wanted to see him with all my heart, but I don’t know if I could handle the pain of the broken bond again.

“ _I am going to remove one brick and let the connect bleed, though. It will hurt but not nearly as bad. Ready?”_

I nodded my head and braced myself for the pain. 

She was right; it was nearly as bad. Similar to the hangover migraine, I got one night when I drank too much with Jack. I called out to him repeatedly. Both verbally and mentally. 

“Doctor, follow my voice, come to me. Follow my voice.”

I don’t know if it got through, but soon enough we were orbiting the supernova she had found. Suddenly there was a noise coming from the other side of the consul—a hissing. I went around to see what it was and gasped. 

There rising out of the consul was a screwdriver. A sonic screwdriver. It didn’t look like his did, but I knew immediately what it was. It was dark blue like the TARDIS outside with gold details all over it. 

“ _Do you like it, Wolf? I made it special for you.”_ She sounded almost unsure, and it made me smile. 

“Yes, darling. I love it. It’s beautiful.” I took it from the consul and cradled it in my hands for a moment. 

_“Point it at the consul and press the button when you are ready. It should send the projection of you, though. Hopefully, he is there. We don’t have much time before the crack closes.”_

I ran my fingers through my hair and made sure I didn’t look too awful in my reflection on the consul. I had looked better, but I had also looked much much worse over the last few weeks. 

I pointed and pressed. Suddenly I was standing on an empty beach, and there he was. His back was to me, and I could see the rest of my family a hundred feet back by an old car. I shoved my hands into the pockets of the jumper I was wearing and softly called his name. 

“Doctor.”

He whirled around to face me, and his face looked so beautiful. Even though it was covered in anguish but I could see the love shining in his eyes. 

“Rose,” He breathed. “How?”

“It doesn’t matter now. We don’t have much time before this crack in the walls closes for good. I just needed to see you one more time. Make sure that you are going to be okay.”

“You look like a ghost.” he took a step closer to me. 

_“Press the button again. I think I can make your image stronger.”_ Her voice was quiet in my head, and I did as she suggested. The screwdriver was quiet, with no buzzing noise like his.

“There, that better?” I shrugged.

“Yeah, I wish I could touch you. You have no idea how much I miss you. I wish somehow we could be together again, but the universes will collapse if we push thus crack any further. ” His hands reached up but stopped before they got to me. I almost said, ‘Why does it matter if the shatter?’ but I knew the answer. Our pain wasn’t worth two whole universes, and I wasn’t going to make him say it.

“I think I have a clue.” I gave him a tight smile. “Are you ok here? Mum taking care of you?” I glanced back at them to see them walking up to us. 

“Rasillion, yeah. She has barely left me alone. I shattered my sonic. I might have thrown it at that stupid wall. But it’s already been a few months here. Are you ok? The bond almost killed me before I blocked it off.” He cast a glance over at my approaching family. 

“I had to block it off as well. It hurt, I won’t lie about that. Where are we? This beach is beautiful, a bittersweet beautiful.”

“A beach in Norway. Called Darlig Ulv Stranden. And, no, I didn’t say Dalek. It roughly translates to Bad Wold Bay.”

“Huh, that's appropriate.” I shook my head in sadness. 

“ _About two minutes left.”_ She whispered in my head. 

“Two Minutes.” I was thankful he didn’t ask how I knew that. I didn’t want to spend our last few minutes talking about how I was some weird hybrid creature now. Mum and the other reached us now. She wrapped her arm around him, and he only squirmed a little. 

“You’re not really here, are you, love?” She asked with tears in her eyes. 

“No, mum. I am just a projection, and we only have about a minute and a half left. I love you. Are you going to be ok here?”

“Oh, of course, love. Me and your father are doing alright for ourselves. You are going to be a big sister in a few months.” I gave her a wide smile. She stepped back from the doctor and left us alone for the rest of the connection. 

As much as I wanted to, I didn’t tell him about my own pregnancy. It would be cruel to tell him, only for him never to know more than that. I was glad I was wearing a baggy jumper, I wasn’t showing that much, but if anyone knew my body, it was him. We had loved making love and loved lying there in the afterglow. I would tell his child all about him, but I would save him from that pain.

“They have a Torchwood here, and Pete got me a job with them, so I’ll have something to do at least.” I knew that he would become bored quickly, but he kept up the pretense that it was a good thing, so I did too. 

“We are never going to see each other again.” I don’t know why I said it, but I couldn’t keep it in. 

‘No. No, we aren’t. We can’t.” His voice was caked with tears, and my own were falling down my face at unimaginable speeds. 

“What are you going to do? Are you going to be okay there, on your own?” His tears began to fall, slowly. One at a time.

_“Twenty seconds.”_

“I’ll figure something out. You know, make it work.” I don’t know why I didn’t tell him that I had the TARDIS. He didn’t ask about her, and I’m sure he thought she was still sitting when he had parked her last. 

“I love you, Rose Tyler, Defender of the Universe. My wife. My love. My Bondmate.” His left hand was clutched tightly into a fist, and I could see his wedding ring. 

I let out a shuttering breath, and I opened my mouth. 

“I lov...”

The projection ended. I was off the beach and back in the TARDIS alone except for the voice in my head. 

“I love you, ….” My lips formed the odd shape of his true name. The sound foreign on my tongue. 

I wiped the tears off my face and walked around the consul. Undoing the commands that kept us orbiting the supernova. After a moment, we were back in the vortex, and I leaned against the consul. 

_“What the?”_ Hearing an all-knowing space ship be surprised was enough for me to look up. A bride was standing in front of the doorway. Her back to me. 

“What?” 

She turned around and spotted me.

“Who are you? Where am I? What is this?

“What?” I couldn’t think of anything else to say, much less answer her questions.

“What the hell is this place?” She was getting louder with each question. 

“What?” I asked again.

 _“What?”_ Echoed in my mind. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave some love, it makes my day.


	5. The Bride and Santa

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we start getting into the episode content. So far during my writing, each episode gets split into two chapters. That should be the constant, but I'll let you know if it changes. 
> 
> Leave some love in the form of comments, kudos, and bookmarks, please, and thanks!

Chapter 5

Rose

The Bride and Santa

“What?” It seemed that, that I was capable of saying at the moment. 

" _ How did she do that? It’s impossible. We are in flight? That’s impossible for other species.”  _ It is incredibly jarring to have the all-knowing space ship be confused as well as you. 

“Tell me where I am. I demand you tell me where I am right the instant.” The red-headed bride was a loud woman, and she just seemed to be getting louder and louder.

“Inside the TARDIS.” I turned on my heel and began moving around the consul. I didn’t know what I was looking for, but something must be able to tell me what the hell is going on. My dictionary in hand, I began scanning the monitors. 

“The what?” The bride asked. 

“The TARDIS.”

“The what?”

“The TARDIS.”

“That’s not even a proper word!”

“Oh, of course not. Its acronym. But the fact is that you are in the TARDIS, and I don’t know how.”

“ _ Neither do I. But I am running scans on her. She seems to be human and carries no weapons.” _

“Thanks, that’s super helpful.” Apparently, muttering to a ship’s consul is a basis for thinking someone is crazy. 

“Oh god, I have been kidnapped by a crazy person.” The Bride went running her fingers through her hair but stopped when she hit her veil. 

“I didn’t kidnap you. You just appeared here in my home.” At the worst possible moment ever. I probably still had tear tracks running down my face. 

“Who was it? Who’s paying you? Was it Nerys? This has got Nerys written all over it.” Her voice had settled at one deafening volume that was beginning to grate on my ears. 

“I don’t know who the hell Nerys is, but if she is a friend of yours, I would reconsider that relationship.” Seriously, what kind of friends does this woman have? “Wait a minute, when is the wedding?” I gestured to her dress and veil.

“RIGHT NOW! I was halfway up the aisle.”

_ “Oh, Dear Wolf. We should get her back to where she is supposed to be.”  _ I rolled my eyes at the ceiling. Do you _ think? _

I began pulling and twisting things on the consul. I needed to get back to Earth. The specifics certainly would help, but the bride was busy threatening me with the police. I tuned her out for a moment. 

_ “Wolf, she is going for the door.” _

I looked up quickly, but it was too late to stop her. She wrenched the door open and froze. The time vortex was there floating around us in a swirl of beautiful colors. She didn’t react to me coming up next to her. 

“You are in space. Outer space.” I was going to leave the technicalities out of it. “This is a space ship. My space ship. It’s called the TARDIS.”

“How am I breathing?” Her voice was the quietest it had been.

“She is protecting us. Pushing an atmosphere into a bubble around us.”

“Who are you?” She glanced at me over her shoulder. 

“I’m..I’m Rose. You?”

“Donna. 

“You’re human?” I already knew the answer, but it was the best way to broach the subject of aliens and me. Whatever I was.

“Yeah, is that optional?” She didn’t sound super convinced. 

I almost said that I knew a few aliens and left it at that, but The Old Girl chimed in my head. 

“ _ Remember, you aren’t human anymore.” _

“Yeah, it is. For me, at least.”

I felt her do a double-take as she looks at me. I look human, bottle-blonde hair, jumper, human makeup. If you just look at me, no one would know that I am not human. Whatever the hell, I am anyway. 

“You’re an alien.”

“Yeah.” That wasn’t necessarily true because I was born on Earth, but I wasn’t going to get into the specifics. 

“It’s cold with these doors open.”

I reached forward and closed the doors. I guess the moment was over because the TARDIS began rambling on in my head. 

_ “I don’t understand how this happened. It is impossible for a human to lock on to me in flight. Even if I wasn’t in flight, it should be impossible. How could she have transported herself into me? Scan her with your screwdriver.” _

Yeah, that’s going to go over well. “Donna, I need to figure out how you got here. I am going to scan you with this tool. It won’t do anything to you. It’s just gonna help m,e figure out what the hell is going on, Ok?”

I didn’t give her much time to respond before I was doing precisely that. The scan complete I turned back to the consul. Hopefully, the scans could tell us something.

She grabbed my shoulder roughly and turned me around to face here. I thought for a moment she might have slapped me, but she didn’t. 

“GET ME TO THE CHURCH! My wedding!”

“Oh, right! When? Where?” I jumped away from the scanner and went to input the information when she told me. 

“St. Mary’s. Haven Road. Chiswick. London. England. Earth. The Solar System.” She stopped speaking, and I looked up to see what caught her attention. It was his jacket. Hanging on the pilot seat, where I had left it before the message, before this. “Who’s jacket is that?”

“It’s my husband’s. Please don’t touch it.” She didn’t listen and went to grab it. The Old Girl, being the fantastic ship she is, sent a shock up her feet from the grating. 

“Ow!” She hopped on one foot for a moment. 

“I said, don’t touch it.”

Donna gave a huff but turned away from the coat.

“Where is this husband, then?” She asked hauntingly. 

“He is gone. I lost him.”

For a moment, I thought she was going to keep pestering me, but she must have seen something in me. Woman to woman. She didn’t keep going with that line of questions. I fidgeted with a knob on the consul for a moment before I jumped into action. 

“Right, Chiswick.” I jumped around her and began pressing buttons. Only the last few of them had spotlights. I was starting to get the hang of this.

\------------------------------

We opened the doors to be smack dab in the middle of London. Donna walked out and began berating me for not ending up where she wanted. But I wasn’t listening to her. I was listening to the voice in my head. 

_ “There is something wrong. I don’t feel normal. I think I need to recalibrate. I have to leave you for a little while. I’ll be back, and you’ll be fine.” _

_ No, wait. _

It was no use. The light in my head dimmed to almost nothing, and her voice was gone. I turned towards the edge of the door and rubbed her paneling a moment. 

“Ok. I can do this.” I ran back inside and began reinserting the information Donna had given me before. The second time’s the charm, maybe. 

“Donna, where are you?” I turned from the consul to see her running away, out into London. I ran after her. 

“Donna!”

“Leave me alone. I just want to get married.” She was walking fast for someone in her wedding shoes. 

“Come back to the TARDIS.” I shoved my hands in my jumped pockets. I was glad to feel my screwdriver in there. 

“No way, that box is too weird.”

“It's just bigger on the inside, that’s all.” It wasn’t all, but she didn’t need to know that yet.

“Oh, is that all?” She looked at the watch on her wrist. “ 3:10, I am going to miss it.”

“Why don’t you call them and tell them where you are?” It seemed like a simple solution. 

“Do I look like I have my mobile? I’m in my wedding dress. It doesn’t have pockets.”

“Oh, sorry. My wedding dress had pockets, and I wore sneakers, not heels. Anyway, I’m blabbering. Why don’t you use my mobile, you do know their phone numbers, right?”

“You want me to use your martian phone? Oh, hell no.” She ran off and began calling for a taxi.

“Martian? I’m not from Mars, where did she get that?” I ran after her once again. I got up to her she was getting out of a cab, yelling at the cabby. He apparently wouldn’t serve her without money, which was rude. She was in her wedding dress, late to her wedding. 

“Talk about the Christmas spirit.”

“It’s Christmas? Huh?”

“Well, maybe not on Mars, but here it’s Christmas Eve.”

“Not from Mars.” Oh, Dear, SJ is going to kill me for skipping forward five months. Oops. “You can still use my mobile if you would like.”

She scoffed and walked off. I looked around, trying to figure something out. Trumpet playing Santa’s caught my eye. They reminded me of something, what was it. Oh, last Christmas! Killer Santa’s. I searched for Donna only to find her getting in a cab driven by another killer Santa. 

“Donna! No!”

She turned around and waved at me. “See you in court Martian Lady!” 

With that, she was in the cab and driving away. I turned to look back at the other Killer Santa’s, and they had their trumpets of death pointing right at me. I turned the other direction and ran, purposely going through people. If they were taking that much care to hide, they wouldn’t kill innocent bystanders.

Once back in the TARDIS, the light still dimmed. I pressed some buttons, twisted some knobs, and even hit something with a mallet. She would probably complain about that later, but we needed to go. Within moments she was whoosing her way out of where we were. I grabbed some twine from below the consul, wrapped it around the controls to keep them in place, and raced to the door. I was flying across the freeway next to the cab Donna was in. I had to sonic the window so she could hear me. 

“Santa’s a robot!” 

“Yeah, I know. Open the door, Donna.” The twine was pulling around my fingers, but I didn’t let it up.

“What?”

“Open the door and jump! You need to jump!”

‘I’m not going to jump. I'm supposed to be getting married!” Santa must have been getting annoyed because the cab began speeding up, and she was way ahead of me. 

I pulled the twine tighter, and the TARDIS and I bumped our way over a few cars and made it up to Donna. The consul was sparking and shocking, but I ignored it. I needed to save Donna.

“You need to jump! Whatever that thing wants you for. It's not going to be good. I can save you! You just have to jump. Trust me!”

She looked conflicted still, and I, for one, couldn't understand how. 

With a scream, she jumped. I was surprised that I caught her. We fell back into the TARDIS, and the doors closed behind her. 

\--------------------------

I managed to park us on a helipad in London before the smoke from the consul overtook us all. We had to get out rather quickly, and I grabbed an extinguisher looking thing that I knew would help. Donna wonders about the helipad as I sprayed the substance inside. 

“Funny, for being a space ship, she actually doesn’t do that much flying. She is gonna need a few hours to recuperate. Are you all right?”

“It doesn’t matter now. I’ve missed my wedding.” She wasn’t crying as I thought she might. She had been very emotional throughout all of this. 

“I’m sorry. You can always reschedule, and there is the honeymoon.” 

“It's just a holiday now,” She shrugged her shoulders. “Anyway, it’s not your fault, it's the evil killer Santa’s. It’s not like you have a time machine and we can go back to before this all happened.”

I did have a time machine, but I didn’t know how to do that. I had never seen the Doctor get such accurate timing. I had been missing before for a year because he messed up the timing. Even If I did have an idea of how to do it, I would need the TARDIS telling me what to do. I didn’t tell Donna all this. Donna sat down on the edge of the helipad; I joined her. The wind was blowing, but I only had my jumper. She was bare-shouldered, and I couldn’t offer her anything. 

“Oh, you need to put this on.” I pulled a wedding band out of my pocket and handed it to her. 

“Rubbing it in now?” She took it from me and put it on. 

“No, it will keep you hidden from the Santa’s, I’m sorry I don’t have anything else. It’s called a bio-damper.”

“So Killer Santa’s? What are they on for?” Donna asked as we stared at the London skyline. 

“They are just scavengers. The Father Christmas stuff is just a disguise. I met them last Christmas.” I held in a shutter at the memory of last Christmas. It was almost as bad as this one. That was where this all started, really. 

“Oh, what happened then?” I turned wide eyes on Donna.

“Great big space ship. Hovering over London. People standing on the rooftops of buildings about to throw themselves off. Ringing a bell?” I couldn’t believe it.

“I had a bit of a hangover.” 

I guess that answered that. I looked back out at London. My eyes found my old home. The Powell Estate, where I lived with mum. Where I dated Mickey. Where I met the Doctor. The Begining. The beginning of the end. I held in a small sob. 

“The real question is, what do the killer Santa’s want with you? And how did you get in the TARDIS? I don’t know what’s your job?” I reached in my pocket and pulled out my sonic.

“I’m a secretary.”

I scanned her again, and somehow I was able to interpret the buzzing coming from the sonic. New TARDIS powers, cool. She wasn’t anything special. No fancy job, just a plain ordinary human. Like I used to be.

She swiped the sonic away from her face. 

“Stop bleeping me!” I put it down, and it wasn’t helping me find the answers to the questions I had anyway. 

“What kind of secretary?” Maybe there was something in there. 

“I’m at HC Clements. It's where I met Lance, My husband, finance? I don’t know. I was just a temp. I had been somewhere else for the last two years, and this place was very posh. Lance just made me a coffee, and that was the beginning of it. He made a secretary a coffee, him the head of HR. I don’t know why he looked at me more than once, but he did. We just hit it off.”

“When was this?” Her story was adorable. It had me smiling at the thought of true love.

“Six months ago,” my smile faded a bit. 

“That’s a bit quick, right.” Even I had been traveling with the doctor almost two years before we were married. Granted, we hadn’t actually been in a relationship that long, but we had at least known each other awhile.

“He insisted. Nagged and nagged. Eventually, I said yes.” 

Somehow I didn’t see this Lance being the Nagging one in the relationship, but I didn’t say anything. She was a really nice woman, despite being a bit odd. But who isn’t odd, right?

“What does HC Clements do?” I figured changing the subject might be better.

“Security systems. Entry codes, ID cards that sort of thing. Essentially locksmiths.” She shrugged her shoulders. There was nothing special about her to make her appear into the TARDIS. 

_ “Keys,”  _ The Old Girl whispered in my head. I checked, she still dim but she has given me the clue I needed. I just didn’t know it yet. 

“Alright, I guess that’s enough. We better go face the music, huh? This is going to be so shaming. You can do all the explaining, Mars Lady.” Donna got up off the ledge, dusted herself off, and set off back towards the TARDIS. 

“Not from Mars.” I got up and followed her. Donna ignoring my comment. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave some love in the form of comments, kudos, and bookmarks, please, and thanks!


	6. The Bride and the Giant Spider

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the wrap up of Donna's episode, but don't fret we will see her before she comes back as a companion.
> 
> Leave some love in the form of comments, kudos, and bookmarks!

Chapter 6

Rose 

The Bride and the Giant Spider

The wedding party wasn’t worried. They weren’t even phased. They were partying it up at the reception hall. Donna looked pissed, and I felt pissed right along with her. They quickly noticed that we were standing on the edge of the dance floor. Watching their faces go from happy and dancing to terrified and guilty was only slightly satisfying. 

“You had the reception without me?” Donna crossed her arms.

“Donna, what happened to you?” A man in a tux asked. I really hoped he wasn’t Lance and was one of the groomsmen. 

“You had the reception without me?” Donna asked again, louder, angrier. No one responded to her, and I needed to break the silence. 

“Hello, I’m Rose.” I gave a tiny wave from behind Donna. She turned to me aghast. 

“They had the reception without me!”

“Yeah, I noticed. I really think that you should rethink some of these relationships. My family would never have done something like this.”

“Who do you think you are commenting on our family. And besides Donna, It was all paid for.” That came from a woman in a tight blue dress, almost too tight.

“Thank you, Nerys.” Donna was seething. 

After a moment, the entire party swarmed on us. They all began asking these questions. How did she do it? Where did she go? Why? I was starting to get a bit overwhelmed, and apparently, so was Donna. 

She began crying, and they all shut up. The man from before swept her up in a hug; I guess he was Lance. They hugged for a moment swaying there until she turned towards me a bit. She gave me a wink, and I had to hold down a smile. I guess she wasn’t as overwhelmed as she seemed. 

\------------------------------

Soon the party was on the way, and Donna was happily dancing with Lance and the other party-goers. I didn’t feel like dancing or even parting, so I stayed off to the sidelines by the bar. I was not drinking my sorrows away.  _ Thank you, baby.  _ After all, it had only been a few hours since I had said goodbye to the Doctor.

I pulled out my bright pink mobile and my sonic and did some research. After a few clever clicks, I discovered that HC Clements, Donna’s company, was owned by none other than Torchwood. Of course, they were involved, and that meant that there was something larger at play here. I needed to figure out what. I sent off a text to SJ, told her I would stop by when this was all over and tell her all about it. She was quick to reply that she was waiting and had a bit of a surprise. 

I looked into the crowd and wished I hadn’t. There were a couple dancing, one blonde lady and a tall, dark-haired man in a brown coat. It brought tears to my eyes because that could have been us. My Doctor and I. I quickly pulled my eyes away from it and looked elsewhere. I spotted the cameraman; there I might find some answers. 

I walked up to him, and before I even open my mouth, he said. “Yeah, I’ll show you the disappearing act. Come to this side.” He waved me over and played the film. 

Donna was walking down the aisle, and then she began to glow gold. Before I knew it, she was screaming and disappearing in a flash of gold. Something inside me recognized it; I knew it wasn’t me but the TARDIS. However, it did remind me a bit of the Bad Wolf. 

“Play it again, please.” He did so. 

“ _ Huon Particles. Well, that makes sense.”  _ She was awake, not quite as bright as before but getting there.

“What?’ The cameraman asked I didn’t answer him. I was too busy understanding the information the TARDIS was feeding me. 

_ “They are ancient energy particles. It shouldn’t be possible. They haven’t existed for billions of years. The Bio-damper won’t work, the energy particles are too old.” _

My eyes raced to the crowd of dancers. Spotting Donna was easy, with her being in white. Before I knew it, I was on her and Lance. A glance out the window told me that the Killer Santas had found her.

“Donna, Donna. They found you.” She knew immediately what I was talking about. 

“But you said I was safe.”

“The ring doesn’t work. We need to get everyone out of here.” We ran for the back door. Tow Santas covered it. The side door, also Santas. Every exit was covered. 

One of the Santas held up a remote control. I turned around back into the party, what could they control. My mind flashed back to killer Christmas trees last year, and I remembered. 

“Get away from the tree!” Donna didn’t know why, but to her credit, she helped me move people away from the tree before it did anything. The woman who I assumed was Donna’s mother wasn’t very accommodating. 

“Oh, for god’s sake. The woman’s an idiot what harm is a Christmas tree going to do..” She stared behind me in shock. I turned around to see the ornaments on the trees flying off and around the room. 

The ornaments then began to dive-bomb the crowd and explode. Chaos ensured, and everyone started running this way and that. I lost track of Donna and fell over someone already on the floor. Once I pulled myself up, I saw the speaker system.  _ There’s an idea.  _

I jammed my sonic up on high and dropped it in the speaker’s well. I had only a minute to shout. 

“Cover your ears!” I ducked down behind the speaker, and a god-awful noise came out. High pitched and unending, but it made the Santas malfunction, so I was ok with it. The Santas began to crumble to pieces and collapsed to the floor. I pulled my sonic out and went to investigate them. I heard the party-goers checking on each other behind me. I grabbed the remote and the helmet of one of the robots. 

“There are two remote controls. One for the ornaments and one for the Santas. Someone has taken control of the scavengers. This is going to be interesting.” I don’t know who I was talking to, but it felt good to say it out loud. I held the head up to my ear. “There is still a signal. Come one, Donna, time to figure this out.”

I ran out, still holding the head and the remote. It took her a moment before she followed me.

“Someone is controlling the robots, and if we can find the controller, we can end this.” I used my sonic to track the signal and began following it. 

“Why me, why now? Rose!” She followed me. 

“I don’t know Donna, but if we follow the signal, we might be able to figure it out.” 

I was trying to pinpoint the signal when all of a sudden, it was gone. I turned to Donna quickly. “We need to get to your office. HC Clements, I think they have something to do with this. Lance!” I turned toward the man from before. “Is he Lance? Can he give me a lift? Let go, Lance!” I grabbed him by the arm and dragged him towards the cars. Donna following behind. 

\------------------------------------

As we ran into their office, I began explaining what I had found out. 

“To you lot, this place is just a locksmith, but in actuality, it's much more. It was bought up by a bigger group called Torchwood Institute 23 years ago.”

“Who are they?” Donna asked as we slowed near a computer. 

“They were behind the Battle of Canary Warf.” I was happy to be distracted as I talked about it.

“The what?” Donna asked. I couldn’t believe she had missed that one too.

“Robots and these salt and pepper sharker things invading. All over the skies and the streets.” She looked clueless. 

“I was in Spain. Scuba diving.” She shrugged as if it was no big deal to miss another alien invasion. I looked at Lance, and he just nodded his head in acceptance. 

“You really do miss those big pictures, Donna. Anyway, Torchwood was destroyed, and I think someone else came in and took over command of your company. We need to figure out who.” I went to another computer and hit it. None of them were giving me the information I needed. 

“But why me?” Donna asked.

“I don’t know. Somehow you have been dosed with this thing called Huon Energy. I don’t know how because it is supposed to be extinct. The only place you can find Huon now is in the heart of a TARDIS. Somehow it's in you, and that is a problem. The particles being in you is how you ended up in the TARDIS. It is like the particles were drawn to each other. Kinda like magnets.” All of this information was new to me as I said it. The TARDIS inside me still feeding me information but too dim to be any more help than that.

“Lance, what was HC Clements working on? Anything secret or bad?” I looked at him for a moment before I went running off with the sonic scanning. 

“I don’t know. I’m in charge of personal nothing else.” Wow, he wasn’t accommodating, was he? The sonic was, though. One computer decided to be helpful and popped up a nice screen with all kinds of information on it. 

“Why am I explaining myself to you?” Lance said as he began to get upset. I didn’t care because I was looking at a schematic of the entire building. 

“Because you make keys.” The Old Girl’s clue from earlier popped back up. “Why are there two basements?”

‘There isn’t. There is only one basement of that plan.” Donna said as she pointed towards it. 

I popped up from the computer and went to the elevator. It was still on this floor from before. “There is a button labeled lower basement. Why is there an entire floor that doesn’t exist on the official plans?” Both Donna and Lance looked shocked when I turned around. 

“You telling me this building has a secret floor?” Lance asked.

“No, I’m showing you.” He wasn’t very bright, was he.

“It needs a key,” Donna said as she pointed to the key fob next to the button. 

I pointed the sonic at it. “I don’t. Right then, I’m good from here. Thanks for the help.”

Donna wasn’t in agreement. “No chance Martian. You keep saving my life. I’m not leaving you.” She got in the lift with me. Lance stayed behind. 

“Alright, going down. You coming, Lance?” I looked at him momentarily. I didn’t think he would come of his own volition, and neither did Donna. 

“Lance!” he jumped to attention and got in the lift. 

“Guess we know who is in charge in this relationship,” I muttered loud enough for them both to hear. 

“Oi!” Donna didn’t like my comment. 

\---------------------------------------

The basement was dark, lit only by a creepy green light. It was also moist, there was water on the floor, and the air felt heavy with it. 

“What goes on down here?” Donna wondered aloud. 

“Well, we are going to find out. Come On!” We set off to the left. After a few feet, I noticed transport in the form of 3 segways. 

“Do you think Mr. Clements knows about this place?” Donna said as we got on the segways.

“Oh, I think the mysterious Mr. Clements is more involved than we’d like to think.” 

As we rode down the hall, everything must have hit Donna at once. She started laughing hysterically, and I just had to join her. This entire day had been incredibly unbelievable, even for me. Lance looked at both of us as if we were crazy. Maybe we were, but at least we were having fun. We came to a quick stop when I noticed a sign on a doorway. 

AUTHORIZED PERSONEL ONLY TORCHWOOD INSTITUTE 

That got my attention. With a quick twist of the wheel, I had the door open when led into a tiny room with a ladder. Gotts love a ladder. I turned to Donna and Lance.

“Wait here. I just need to get my bearings. Don’t do anything, and don’t go anywhere.”

“You better come back, Rose,” Donna ordered me.

“Couldn’t get rid of you if I tried Donna,” I reassured her. 

A short climb later, I was popping out on top of a Thames barrier. We were underneath the Thames River. 

“Thames Flood Barrier. Right on top of us. Torchwood snuck in and built this place under it.” I dusted my hands off of ladder dust. 

“Wait, you mean there is a secret base hidden under a national landmark, your joking.” Donna would be amazed at what I have seen. 

“I know. You would be surprised at how many of those I have dealt with.” I found another door that leads to a beautiful lab. The Doctor would be in awe of how beautiful this place is. I can hear him now, going on about all the fun things in the lab. I only recognized a few of the items here. 

“ _ Particle Extrusion.”  _ Ok, whatever that meant.

“What does it do?” Donna asked as she followed me in, Lance trailing behind. 

“Hold on,” I didn’t tell them that I was waiting for the spaceship in my mind to explain what she meant.

“ _ They are manufacturing Huon Particles here. Quite brilliantly, actually. The Time Lords got rid of the Huon Particle, they unravel atomic nature, and they believed them to be dangerous. They have used the river on top of us and a flat hydrogen base to get the end result. Manufactured Huon Particles. In liquid form, incredible. There is some, grab those.” _ She wasn’t pointing, I don’t think she could point, but I knew exactly what she meant. 

“They have been manufacturing Huon Particles, which is what is in you. They have even managed to make it into a liquid form.” I turned to find Donna next to me. I opened the tiny bottle, and next to me, Donna began to glow again. Just like the video from the ceremony. 

“Oh, my God!” Donna was a tad freaked at how she began glowing all of a sudden. 

_ “Genius.”  _ She sounded impressed, almost envious. “ _ The particles needed a living host to catalyze in. To become anything other than gold dust. The body needs to be saturated with it, and then the chemical reactions of intense emotions created the desired reaction.” _

“They used your body as a host to infuse the particles with energy, emotions. Your wedding day, the most emotional day of your life was perfect. It gave them enough energy to become active particles. It's kinda brilliant when you ignore all the other stuff.”

Donna didn’t share my enthusiasm. “Am I safe with this stuff in me? Is it going to hurt me?”

“ _ Quite possibly even kill her. Huon’s are deadly.” _

_ “ _ Yeah, you will be fine.” I didn’t buy the lie coming out of my mouth. I’m sure Donna didn’t.

“Rose.” Yup, she didn’t. 

“Huon’s are deadly, but I am going to fix it before you get hurt. I refuse to let you be hurt because of me. Because I couldn’t save you.”

“Oh, god.” Before she could say anything else, there was a crash. 

Following the crash was a large door opening. It had looked like a wall before it began rising. It revealed a large hole dug deep into the earth. 

“Oh, but she is long past saving,” A feminine voice called out over a speaker. “I have waited so long for this moment, and there is nothing you can do to stop it. Hibernating at the edge of the universe. Until the secret heart was discovered and called out to me.”

All of a sudden, we were being targeted by more robots, sans the Santa costumes. I looked around for Lance and didn’t see him behind us. 

“Someone has been digging,” I walked up to the large hole. “Oh, very Torchwood, drill by laser. Nothing original anymore. How far down?” I almost wanted to send a spit luge down, but I figured that wasn’t very professional of an Earth Saver. 

“Down and down. Until the very center of the universe.” The voice answered me.

“Really? Why? What for, seriously?” I was genuinely curious, and the now bright bobbing light in my head was as well. 

“Dinosaurs.” Donna popped up behind me.

I turned towards her in confusion, “Huh?”

She shrugged, “Maybe there are dinosaurs down there?” 

_ “Probably not.”  _ The Old Girl chimed in. 

_ It’s a good guess, though.  _ I respond silently. 

“ _ Ehh.”  _ She wasn’t impressed. 

“I don’t think so.” Donna looked at me with her head tilted. 

“What about that film, Dinosaurs Under the Earth?” She asked. I had seen that one. I caught it with Shreen right before I met the Doctor, back when he wore leather. 

“I doubt it.” She was trying.

“Oh, ok. That was my guess.” She shrugged and stepped back a bit.

“Your species is pathetic.” The voice spoke out again. I had almost forgotten it was there during my odd conversion with Donna. 

“Where are you? Only mad people speak to thin air. Trust me; you don’t want to make me mad after the day I have had. Show yourself.”

“High in the sky. Floating so high on Christmas Night.”

“I didn’t come all this way to talk to a speaker. Come on! Show yourself!” I was starting to get annoyed. 

“Who are you to command me?” Apparently, our foe was getting annoyed.

“ _ Say the Bad Wolf. You aren't technically the Bad Wolf anymore, but they don’t know that.”  _ That could work. 

“I am the Bad Wolf,” I said with all my courage. I needed to sound as badass as possible. 

“Why should I be scared of a wolf? Prepare your pack, Wolfie. I am coming to attack.” 

Suddenly there was a shining light from the level above. The one spot where there were no Killer Santas. After the light died down, there was something there I didn’t recognize. A giant spider woman looking thing. And it was hissing, all over the place. I was delighted it was as far away as it was.

“Spider,” Donna said, shocked. I was nodding alongside her before the TARDIS was talking in my head. 

_ “Racnoss. That’s impossible. They are extinct.”  _ I don’t think it’s impossible anymore. 

“Racnoss, you are a Racnoss.” I somehow knew how impossible it was for these creatures to be here. It bled through from the TARDIS to me. 

“Empress of the Racnoss.” The creature hissed at me.

“If you are the Empress, where the rest? Or you the last of your kind. I know a thing or two about being the only living member of your species.” At first, I was talking about what the Doctor had shared with me, but then I realized it applied to me as well. Only I had never had others like me.

“Such a sharp thinker.” The Empress hissed at me.

“Yup, there it is. She is the last of her kind.” I turned to Donna. “The Racnoss come from the Dark Times. Billions and billions of years ago. They would eat anything in their path. An Omnivore to the highest level possible. They devoured entire planets.”

The spider lady cut in, “Racnoss are born starving. Is that our fault?”

“They eat people?” Donna asked, aghast.

“HC Clements, did he wear those black and white shoes? Saddle shoes?” I didn’t want to point out what I had noticed, but I had to.

“Yeah, he did. We used to laugh and call him Fat Cat in Spats,” Donna didn’t hear the tone in my voice and laughed a bit about it. “Why?”

I pointed my fingers at the ceiling and the shoes sticking out of webbing. She saw him, and for a moment I thought she might be sick. She wasn’t.

“Oh my god!”

The Racnoss gave another hiss, “Hmm, Christmas dinner.”

“You shouldn’t even exist. Way back in time, the fledgling empires went to war against the Racnoss. They were wiped out.”

“Except for me,” The spider lady cackled. Behind her, I noticed Lance climbing out of a paneling holding an ax. So that’s where he went. Ballsy. Donna saw him too, but the Racnoss didn’t appear to.

Donna tried to distract her from Lance approaching, and I let her do the talking. I needed to think of a way out in case this didn’t work. I hoped it did, but I needed to have an escape route. The TARDIS luckily had an idea.

“ _ Use the particles. Open then up, and it will call me to you. I will be able to protect you and Donna. Not the other one though, he is too far away.”  _ It wasn’t amazing, but I would take it. I grabbed the bottle of Huon Particles from the table next to me. 

Lance was so close to hitting the Racnoss with the ax, and Donna gave up his anonymity. But he stopped midswing when it looked at him. They stared at each other for a moment before they both began cackling. I knew right away what had happened. I opened the Huon bottle. They were so distracted with laughing they didn’t notice Donna begin glowing slightly. Poor Donna didn’t understand at first. 

“That was a good one. Your face.” He was laughing with the Empress. 

“Lance is funny.” The Empress hissed as she laughed. 

“What?” 

I turned to Donna. “I’m sorry, Donna.” her entire life was about to flip upside down. More than it already had. 

“Sorry for what, Rose?” She questioned. 

“God, she’s thick,” Lance called down. ‘Months I have had to put up with her. Months! A woman who can’t even point to Germany on a map.”

“Oh, you better shut up, Lance!” No one was going to make fun of my new friend.

‘I don’t understand,” She looked at me.

“You met him, and he made you coffee. He made you coffee every day for the last six months.” I watched it dawn on her, and I was angry and sad for her. 

“What?” Donna asked.

Lance called down, “I made you coffee every day.”

“Oi Hush it you.” I looked back at Donna. “He was dosing you with the Huon Particles for over six months, every day, every cup of coffee.”

“He was poisoning me.”

“It's all right there in the job title. Head of Human Resources.”

He came back with a stupid pun, and I ignored it. 

“We were getting married.” Donna was downcast as she came to terms with what we had learned.

“Well, I had to say yes. I couldn’t risk you running away. And then I was stuck with a woman who thought the most exciting thing was a new flavored Pringle.” He kept going, but I stopped listening, I pulled Donna away from looking at him, but I knew she was still listening to him. He really was enjoying rubbing this in. 

“How does this partnership even work? Are you her consort? What did she offer you?” How much did it take this poor excuse of a man to turn on his own kind?

“Better than a night with her.” He gestured towards Donna still in her wedding dress.

“But I loved you,” Donna said quietly.

“Exactly. That's why it worked so well. The Empress can offer me a chance to see the universe, Rose. The human race is so pathetic, and I can escape it all.”

“Who is this woman? Where is she from?” The Empress asked.

Lance answered her quickly, “ She said Martian.”

“Oh, I am not from Mars. I am something even you haven’t heard of Empress. But the real question is, what down there?” I gestured at the hole in front of us.

Lance tilted his head, “I think she wants us to talk, Empress.”

“What could possibly benefit you down there? It's just molten Earth and lava, right?” I didn’t know what else there could be down there. I had never thought to ask the Doctor before. 

_ “That’s what should be down there. I don’t see any reason for something else to be down there.”  _ The TARDIS chimed in. 

“Well, sorry, Rose, but we are out of time for questions. All we need is Donna.” Lance seemed to enjoy that a bit too much.

“Kill this chittering wolf lady,” The Racnoss commanded the killer robots. 

Donna stood in front of me, trying to defend me. “Oh no, you don’t.”

_ “I’m almost there, just another few seconds.” _

“Oh, it’s alright. We are going to be fine,” I said to Donna as I pulled her close.

The Spider cackled, Lance laughed, and the killer Santas took aim. 

“Now, hold on a moment!” I needed just a few more seconds. “I just want to point out the obvious.”

“They won’t hit the bride,” The Empress said from above. “They are such excellent shots.”

I started blabbering for a moment. Don’t ask me what I said but it bought us enough time. “I reversed what you did in the first place. You brought Donna to my ship, and I am bringing the ship to Donna.” 

I pulled out the bottle and opened it completely; within moments, we were surrounded by the TARDIS. The gunfire of the killer Santas bouncing off the ship harmlessly. 

“Off we go,” I turned to the consul and quickly pulled the lever. We returned to the preset coordinates of time Vortex. “Do you remember what you said about the time machine on the helipad? I didn’t tell you before, but she is a time machine, and we are going to use it. We need to find out what she is trying to dig up from the core of the planet. This is going to be super fun. I have never been this far back.” I set the coordinates and then pulled the lever. Off we go to the creation of Earth. 

I looked at Donna and saw her wiping tears off her face. She was trying to hide it, but I saw it. I didn’t say anything about it, though.

“We have arrived, do you want to see the creation of Earth?” Distractions were always best, and I knew that better than anyone. 

She sniffled and wiped away a tear before nodding her head. I went straight for the doors. The monitors were super fuzzy and not fun to watch through. “You coming?” I turned towards the doors. 

“Yeah, I guess.”

“This will be cool. No human has ever seen this.” I included myself in that, I may not be human anymore, but this was sure as hell pretty cool.

“All I want to see right now is my bed, but I’ll take what I can get.”

I grabbed the handle and turned back to her, “Donna Noble, welcome to the creation of Earth.” I pulled the doors open wide and stared at the sight. 

Rocks and dust were floating all around us. The Sun was shining from behind a big dust cloud. The cloud was made up of every color known to man, and it was breathtaking. I wonder for a moment if The Doctor ever saw this or something like this. But I am sure he did.

“We have gone back 4.6 billion years.” That number was so large that it didn’t mean anything to me anymore. “There is no solar system, only what we see before us. Dust, rocks, gas. There is the baby sun, a brand new star. Hasn’t even begun its life yet.” I thought back to my first adventure with the Doctor. He had taken me to see the end of Earth. And now my first adventure without him was the creation of Earth. There had to be some symbolism in there somewhere.

“ _ Oh, Wolf,” _ I pushed away her concern. Now was not the time. 

“Where is the Earth?” Donna asked.

“All around us, in the dust.” That was a thought.

“Lance was right. We are just tiny. Insignificant.” I couldn’t have her thinking like that. 

“No, but that’s what the human race does. Make sense out of chaos, makes something out of nothing.” I remember him saying something similar when I had thought like that at first. “All of this is beautiful, but only if it is being observed.”

“So, I came out of all this?” Donna was amazed. 

“We both did.”

“But, you're not human. Not from Earth.” She looked at me, confused. 

I took a deep breath, “I used to be. I was just like you; this change in not being a human is rather new to me. And don’t worry, nothing will happen to you. My change was caused by some crazy circumstances that will never happen again.” That didn’t even begin to explain it, but I didn’t have more to say. 

Donna stared at me for a moment before she nodded and went back to looking at creation. A large rock came floating by us. 

“Oh, I think that is the Isle of White.” I chuckled at her joke. 

“Eventually, gravity will take hold. One larger rock will pull all the other ones in towards it. Everything gets pulled in and creates the Earth. But what we are here to find out is, what was that first rock?”

As I said it, something shaped almost looking like a star came out of a dust cloud. It was hard to tell, but it seemed to be covered in webbing.

“Look,” Donna pointed to it. 

“ _ The Racnoss. Speed us up. Go to the consul. We can sit here and go through time. Watch it on a timelapse.”  _ Ok, I ran towards the consul and pressed the spotlighted buttons. This I wasn’t going to try and guess. 

“What’s it doing?” I called to Donna; she was still at the door.

“Exactly what you said. It's the first rock, it's pulling everything else into it. It’s becoming the center of the Earth.” 

I ran back to the door. “They didn’t just bury something at the center of the Earth. They became it.” I couldn’t say more because the TARDIS began rumbling. 

_ “They are pulling us back. We need to try and divert our landing.”  _ How?

“What’s that?” Donna asked as she tried to hold on and not fall out the door. 

“Trouble.” I didn’t have time to explain. I closed the doors. 

The rumbling and shaking didn’t slow down. In fact, it just continued to get worse. I ended up falling and having to twist awkwardly not to land on my stomach. The baby I know carried had been at the back of my mind all day, but I guess my instincts were top notch. 

“What the hell is going on?” Donna asked as she held on to the consul. 

“They are reversing my little trick. Pulling us back to them.”

“Can’t you stop it? A hand brake or a reverse gear? Do something to stop them?”

“I’m still a little new at being the pilot. I’m doing the best I can!”

_ “She is a bit of a back seat driver, huh? I have an idea, use the extrapolator!” _

_ And do what?  _

_ “It won’t stop the reverse, but it might give us a little bump. It's already connected, he was messing with it before. You just need to press the on button. It’s down below your feet.” _

I was never so thankful that he liked to mess with things he shouldn’t. I grabbed it and did exactly as she said. The rumbling came to a stop, and we settled for a moment. 

“ _ We landed about 200 yards to the right. You need to hurry.” _

“Come on, Donna!” I open the door and walked out into the same hallway as before. Donna was running after me. We came to a stop outside the door to the lab.

“What do we do now?” She was panting. 

“I honestly don’t know. I’m making this up as I go. So far, we haven’t died, so it's working.” I knew it wasn’t reassuring, but it was all I had. 

“I’ll still don’t understand. Why Me?”

“There is a Racnoss web at the center of the universe. The Racnoss lived off of the Huon Particle. When they were destroyed, the Racnoss entered hibernation. They waited for billions of years. You are filled with the particles, which makes you the key to waking them up. They need you to wake up. Donna? You have anything to say?” I turned around to find her gone from behind me. “Oh, dammit. That’s not fair.”

I quickly searched each side of the hallway. She was gone. I needed a new plan. I used the sonic to open the door and was met with a killer robot. 

\----------------------------------------

I sneaked into the chamber wearing the robot's cloak, keeping it low over my face. I mirrored the other robots next to me. Hopefully, I could fool them long enough to save Donna. And to find her, it took me a moment before I spotted her on the webbed ceiling next to Lance and HC Clements. 

The Empress was going on and on to them about how they were her happy couple and how they had to say ‘I do.” I guess Lance fell out of favor with the Racnoss, hoped he was regretting that now.

“Release the Particles,” The Empress commanded of her robots. 

After a moment, Donna and Lance began to glow, and then the glow left them. The light fell into the hole, going deep and deeper into the center of the universe. The Racnoss began screaming about something. I tuned her out. 

_ “They have awoken down there, I can sense them. They will take a little while to make their way up, though. I fear she plans to send their food down to them, though. Her ship is coming. It’s leaving orbit and entering Earth.”  _

I looked up just in time to see the Empress cut Lance’s web and send him falling down the hole. I was only slightly sorry that I couldn’t save him. He had broken my friend’s heart. 

“LANCE!” Donna screamed after him. She didn’t receive a reply. 

_ “The ship is just over us now. It’s trying to kill all the humans. You need to do something now. They won’t survive the onslaught very long.” _

“My children are climbing their way up. They will feast on the human, and nothing can stop them.” She turned towards me cloaked form. “Not even you, little Wolfie!”

“Well, that disguise lasted longer than I thought it would.” I ripped it off and pointed my sonic at Donna and the web. “I’ve got you, Donna.”

“I’m gonna fall!” She screamed at me. 

“No, you are going to swing.” And swing she did, I had thought that I had aimed it right so that she would land next to me. I was wrong; she swung right below me and sort of crashed into the floor.

“Sorry,” I glanced down at her.

She didn’t look too impressed with me saving her life, but she muttered a small “Thanks.”

“You amuse me, Wolfie,” The Empress hissed. 

“Empress of the Racnoss, I offer you one last chance. I can save you, find a planet for you and your children to live on alone. Somewhere that you can coexist with others.” I needed to offer her another way. I wasn’t going just to destroy them willy nilly. 

_ “That’s going to be difficult.”  _ I ignored her commentary in my head. 

“Take the offer; this is the only time I will give it to you.” I hoped she would, but I knew deep down that she wouldn’t. 

“You truly do amuse me, Wolfie.”

I guess that's a no then. That's unfortunate. 

“I am going to have to decline, Wolfie. Sorry,” She didn’t seem sorry at all. 

“Then, you chose fate.”

She turned to her robots. “Aim. And fir-”

I cut her off, “Relax.” The robots did precisely that. She looked at me in shock. Donna did, as well. 

Donna was able to ask the question first, “What did you do?”

“Guess what I’ve got, Donna.” I took it out of my jumper pocket. “I’ve got the remote control for the robots. It was pretty easy to hack.” I waved in front of the Empress. 

The Empress recovered from her shock. “Roboforms are unnecessary. My children will feast on the Martian flesh.” 

“Oh, but I told you before Empress. I am not from Mars. I am something completely new. But for right now, let’s go with Time Lord Adjacent. You remember them, don’t you?”

She did because she reared up and hissed again. “They murdered the Racnoss.”

“I warned you. You should have taken my offer.” I wouldn’t know this till Donna told me later, but right then, I started glowing golden. My eyes, my skin, my hair all glowing with golden power.

I pulled out a few of the ornament bombs from before and threw them up in the air. I then used the remote to fly them to where I needed them. A few went down the hole. A few went to the Empress. And most of them went up the Thames Barriers. One-click of a button and the whole lab was flooding. The Empressed screamed, but there was nothing she could do.

_ “Darling Wolf, that’s enough. It’s time to go.”  _ I barely heard her over the power and the water rushing in my ears. 

“Rose!” Donna got my attention. “You can stop now!”

I stared at her for a moment, water thoroughly soaking me. I blinked and came back to myself. “Come, We need to find a way out of here.” I gestured her to follow me, and she did quickly. The Racnoss Empress still screaming behind us. 

_ “The human militaries are firing on her in the ship. She is no more.” _

“What about the Empress?” Donna asked as we climbed a latter out of the base. 

“She used up her energy and is defenseless. The human military is taking care of her.” I followed her up the latter, barely keeping my grip on the slippery metal. We got out on top of a Thames Barrier to see the last of the explosion above us. Donna and I hugged in amazement that we had just survived that. 

“One problem, though, Rose.” She patted my arms to get my attention. 

“What’s that?” 

“You drained the Thames.” I looked down to see the bare riverbed. Boats were blowing their horns from the dried river bed. Well, that's one way to start a career as Protector of the Universe. I hoped I didn’t have to explain that to anyone.

“ _ The humans will come up with a logical explanation.” _

\-----------------------------------

A little bit later, we were parked on a typical London street. It was time to drop Donna off. 

“There we go. I told you she would be fine. We can survive anything, us two.” I patted the Old Girl as I walked Donna out. 

_ “Yes, we can, Wolf.” _

“A lot better than me,” Donna said forlornly. 

“You survived a hell of a lot better than I did on my first trip. My husband, he must have thought I was crazy. I miss him.” My hand came to rest on my stomach. I really felt bad for all the women I made fun of before this new development. My movement caught Donna’s eye. 

“You’re not?” She didn’t need to finish the question. 

I nodded. 

“Why on Earth have you been doing all this then. You should be taking it easy. I don’t know what happened to your husband, but if he is truly gone, shouldn’t you cherish what you have left. Protect it.” She meant well, and she was probably right, but things never seemed to work the way I wanted them to. 

“We will be all right. And I was taking it easy before you just appeared on my ship out of nowhere.”

“Well, I am not going to argue with a former human now an alien thing. I’ve had a long enough day. I missed my wedding. I lost my job. And became a widow all in one day. Sort of.” She rolled her eyes and shrugged. 

“I couldn’t save him. I’m sorry.” I was genuinely sorry that it hurt her to lose him. 

“He deserved it.” I looked at her, “Kinda. No, he didn’t. But there is nothing we can do about that now.”

I grabbed her up in a small hug and smiled at her. 

“I better get inside. They are probably worried.” I wasn’t too sure about that, but I didn’t say anything. 

“So, what will you do now, Donna?” Her entire life had just flipped on its head. 

“Not get married for starters. And I’m not going to temp anymore. I want to do something with my life. Maybe I’ll travel. See more of Earth, walk in the dust.”

I chuckled at her call back from the creation. 

_ “She could come with us.”  _ I didn’t think so, but I asked anyway. 

“You could always come with me? I have the room.” She looked at me for a moment, and I looked down at my feet.

“No.”

_ “Hm, I liked her.”  _ I did too. 

“Ok, that's fine.”

“I can’t,” she tried to explain. “I can’t live my life like that. Never stopping, all of the craziness. I don’t think I could handle it.”

“You could. You did amazing today. You’ve seen it out there, the beauty.”

“Yes, and how terrifying it is. That place was flooding, burning, and they were dying. And you stood there, glowing golden, looking down on them as if they were nothing. It’s terrifying what you do.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. She was right, that exactly what I was doing, but it was what had to be done. To save Earth, to save the human race.

“I’ll tell you what, though, Rose. Come inside for Christmas dinner.” I almost said yes, but then I remembered that SJ had said there would be food waiting for me at hers. 

“I have dinner waiting for me. I have a friend, and I told her I would pop by. Thanks, though.” Even if SJ wasn’t waiting, I’m not sure I could have done it. Eaten dinner with her and her family after she had just thrown the awful truth at me. She hadn’t meant to hurt me, but it had. 

“Am I ever going to see you again, Rose?” I hoped we would. I hoped we would be friends for a long time. 

“Here, give me your mobile number. You can call me whenever you want. We don’t even have to do anything super crazy.” I took my phone out of my jumper and handed it to her. She took it and did exactly that. 

I took it back. “I’ll see you soon, Donna.” I went to enter the TARDIS and paused a moment. 

_ “Goodbye, Loud One,”  _ The TARDIS chimed in my head. I cracked a small smile at the nickname. It was accurate. 

“Rose, do something for me?” I looked back at her.

“Yeah?”

“Find someone. You shouldn’t be alone, especially not alone and pregnant. And call me whenever you want to talk.”

“I’ll be ok.” I didn’t want to go out looking for new friends. The one I had just made doesn’t want to travel with me. 

“Please, find someone.” I nodded, I didn’t say anything more, but she understood. 

“Goodbye, Donna, go out and live your life and be...be amazing.”

“I’ll do that. See you later, Rose.”

With that, I closed the door behind me and was gone within a few moments. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave some love in the form of comments, kudos, and bookmarks!


	7. Timeout

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone is having a good winter holiday/break, celebrating if you do. 
> 
> Enjoy this short chapter, just some found family fluff but a teaser for what is to come in regards to the story. I'll see you guys in a couple of days, probably.
> 
> Leave some love in the form of comments, kudos, and bookmarks.

Chapter 7

Rose

Timeout

It was the middle of the night by the time I got to SJ’s, I parked in her back yard and was planning on just sleeping in the TARDIS. But something made me check her door and low and behold there was a note pinned there for me.

‘Rose, come on in, the door is unlocked. Your bed in the guest room is made up. I’ll see you for breakfast. I have got some news for you.’

Well, I wasn’t going to argue with that. I hoped I hadn’t woken up the entire neighborhood with the TARDIS whooshing in. But either way, I wanted to get in fast, it had been a long day, and I just needed to rest for a while. 

_ “We can fix the ‘whooshing’ as you call it tomorrow. I’m not supposed to sound like that.”  _ I turned to her in shock. 

_ “Goodnight Wolf,”  _ She wasn’t going to give more than that. I pouted for a second before I gave it up. 

Inside SJ’s house, I entered through the kitchen backdoor. I hadn’t seen that door my first visit because the TARDIS was blocking it. On the table under some foil was a plate full of Christmas dinner. Turkey, potatoes, some kind of vegetable mass, some ham, and this delicious looking cornbread thing. I did not  _ run _ to the microwave to heat it up; I simply walked briskly. I was incredibly hungry, and I don’t remember when I ate last, and it was just hitting me. 

_ “You had tea and toast this morning before you began your reading about the void and the multiverse.”  _ The Old Girl chimed in. 

“Oh, thanks. I’m starved.” I tried to ignore the memories that she brought up by reminding me of this morning. It already felt as if it was months ago, and it hurt to realize it was only hours. I inhaled the food along with three glasses of milk from the fridge. I made sure not to drink it all. I didn’t know what day SJ got her milk delivery. With a full stomach, I made my way up to the guest room that I had claimed as mine before. I barely got my shoes off before I fell into a dreamless sleep. 

\-------------------------------

I woke up to a boy staring at me from the doorway of the bedroom. He had brown hair and blue eyes, looked to only be about 12. For a moment, I panicked. Who was this boy, and why was he staring at me. 

“Luke, get away from there! She is sleeping!” SJ’s voice carried down the hall in a hushed whisper. Her voice only calmed my panic slightly. 

“But, Mom. She is awake now,” he called back to SJ. She came up behind him. 

“Probably because you were staring at her! Get downstairs and eat your breakfast.” She swatted at him a little bit before turning to me. “Good Morning Rose. Sorry about him, it’s a long story.”

“Mom?” I asked as I got out of bed. I hadn’t brought any fresh clothes in with me, but I could clean myself up a bit before I go down and find something. That ‘mom’ thing was new; she hadn’t had a son both times before I had seen her. Unless I missed him, I was somewhat distracted. It was unlikely but also possible that I missed another entire person. 

“Yeah, I adopted him a few months ago. He is a long story, and I’ll tell you all about it. After you tell me why you drained the Thames last night?” 

_ “Play innocent.”  _ Duh. 

“The Thames got drained last night?!” I whirled around and looked shocked. My eyes were blown full and my mouth opened a little.

SJ didn’t look impressed or convinced. She raised an eyebrow and stared at me. 

_ “Well, nice try.”  _ Thanks. 

“It was an accident,” my hands were moving awkwardly in front of me. I felt like the Doctor when he was trying to get used to his long limbs at the start of his recent regeneration. 

“How do you accidentally drain a major London landmark?” There was no way to escape her questions.

“A giant spider lady was trying to unleash her spawn to eat the humans of Earth. I used some ornament bombs to drown them.” Yeah, that pretty simplified it up. 

“Giant spider lady?” She crossed her arms over her chest. The eyebrow had yet to relax on her face. 

“The Empress of the Racnoss. Super old species that were supposedly extinct after going to war with the Time Lords billions and billions of years ago. They were omnivores to the next level, ate everything in their path.” I doubt she had heard of them before, but it was possible, she had traveled with the Doctor much longer than I did. Met more regenerations than I did. 

_ “Don’t be jealous of Sarah Jane. You both held very different places in the Abandoner’s heart.”  _ The TARDIS whispered in my mind. 

_ I’m not, just stating a fact. You know he didn’t abandon us on purpose.  _ I had forgotten about her point of view about his disappearance. 

_ “Agree to disagree?”  _ I didn’t like it, but it was the best I was going to get.

_ Alright, I suppose.  _ I looked back at SJ; she was waiting for me to look at her. 

“You guys having an interesting conversation in your head?” She didn’t look annoyed, in fact, she looked more amused. 

I smiled sheepishly, “Sorry,” She waved it off. 

“It’s fine, just odd to watch happen. Anyway, I guess you had enough reason to drain the Thames. Outlandish, but I guess. Come on, let’s get you some food, and I’ll tell you all about Luke.”

I was quick to follow her; I was both hungry and curious about the surprise son.

\------------------------------------

We spent most of the day telling stories of recent events. I let SJ and Luke go first while I ate the breakfast that she had made. He was an artificially created human with an incredible memory. Literally only a few months old despite what he looked like, sometimes he could pass for a teenager other times he was as clueless as a newborn. It was incredibly jarring to see, but he was a friendly kid. SJ told me about how she found him and took him in using Mr. Smith, her supercomputer, to make it all official. She told me about the neighbors down the street and all the adventures they had been having in Ealing. I was excited to meet them and spend more time with SJ and Luke. 

I, in turn, told them about my time on the TARDIS, how she wouldn’t let me fall too far into a depressive state, and how she had been making me learn more and more. At the same time, we were working on unlocking the information she had in my head. I told them about the crack in the universe and how I was able to say goodbye. Sarah Jane wrapped me up in a tight hug when I told her that. I told her about how I couldn’t tell him about the pregnancy, and she understood why I couldn’t cause him more pain than he was already in. I then told them about Donna and how she just appeared in the TARDIS wearing her wedding dress. 

They laughed about our shared confusion and our short flight across the motorway to save her from the Killer Santas. They shared my anger at her family for obviously not caring about what had happened to her. They got even angrier when I told them about Lance and how he had been poisoning her for months. Sarah Jane was jealous that I had gone back to the creation and not brought her, but she let it go pretty quickly. We got somber when I told them that I hadn’t been able to save Lance and the end of the Racnoss. Then, Sarah Jane couldn’t believe that Donna had turned down the chance to travel with me. 

We talked throughout the day, only pausing the stories to get some lunch then tea. After we finished, SJ said she had a surprise for me. I hoped it wasn’t a Christmas gift. I hadn’t thought to get her anything. 

It was, but it was more of a gift for the baby. It was weird to think that it had only been about a month since I found out I was pregnant, but Sarah Jane had five months to plan and adjust. Living in a time machine was really weird. It was an adorable onesie with TARDIS blue words written on it. ‘I’M AN ALIEN BABY.’ I doubled over laughing at it, and so did Luke. It was nice to spend time with SJ and now, Luke. SJ was the closest thing I had to family anymore, and Luke couldn’t definitely become family as well. 

\--------------------------------

Sarah Jane made me stay until New Years Day, and I didn’t fight her very hard on it. I spent time with Sarah Jane getting to know her better. Luke came and went throughout the stories; he was spending time with their neighbors. 

She told me tales about the Doctor from when she traveled with him. All of his funny characteristics from each regeneration that she had met. She had some sad stories, too; she had been with him through a lot. She had met the 3rd version of the Doctor when she worked with UNIT and the Brigadier, how she had watched his regeneration into the 4th doctor. We bonded over being entirely bewildered by the regeneration and believing him to be dead at first. She told me about the 4th version of the Doctor and how he had been different from the 3rd. 

I, in turn, told her about my experience with regeneration and how I had been completely freaked out. SJ told me about Harry and his adventures with them. Their fight with the Daleks and Davros, the creator of Daleks. That was a bit terrifying. He sadness when Harry left them to go back to UNIT. She told me about her stint with the Black Death, which was also awful. I cried with her when she told me about him leaving her in Scotland. I had known that he had essentially abandoned her, but to hear the full story made me angry at him. 

_ “He has a history of abandoning people.”  _ Maybe she was right to call him the Abandoner, but I knew that he was still the good man I married. I remembered the moment he had tried to leave me on Earth, wanted to save me. He had done it with good intentions, but it didn’t always come out that way. He just had some faults, some unfortunate character traits that traversed regenerations. She told me about getting K9, and at the mention of his name, he made an appearance. 

“Yes, Mistress?” he looked around and saw me. 

“Hello, 2nd Mistress.” I looked with wide eyes at SJ. 

“K9, what do mean Rose is a Mistress?” SJ asked, confused. 

“Master’s bondmate means she is Mistress too. Where is Master?” Well, that explained that. 

“Master is gone now, K9. It's just going to me, Rose, Luke, and I, now.” SJ gently explained to the robot dog. I didn’t know how much he understood about loss, but he reacted well enough. 

“That is sad, Mistresses, I shall serve you both now.” With that, he turned around and went back into his hidden doghouse in the wall. 

Sarah Jane and I looked at each other for a minute before chuckling and moving on. I guess I have a robot dog now. 

“ _ Please don’t bring that thing inside with you. It will get oil all over my floor.”  _ I just smiled at that. 

After a moment, Sarah Jane went back to telling her story. She told me about the time scoop and meeting multiple regenerations of the Doctor at the same time. She told me about Susan Foreman, his granddaughter. I knew about her from the Doctor, but not much, it hurt him to talk about her much. She told me about her writing career and how the Doctor’s multiple incarnations popped in and out of her life. She met other companions, and how K9 began breaking down, how she had to let him because he could have changed all of human history. Then after some more story about her life combating alien invasions and being an author, we made it up to the point that I met her when we had met at the school with Mickey and the Doctor. 

All the stories took a few days for her to tell, and before I knew it, New Years Day was here. I helped her make some dinner, not very well. I wasn’t an excellent cook. But I wasn’t banished to the counter to watch like Luke was. All I was allowed to do was stir the items on the stove, but it was nice. I felt useful. 

“We are going to have to teach you how to cook,” Sarah Jane said from the fridge. 

“I’d love that. We can start next time I visit.” I stirred a delicious smelling pot. 

“You’re leaving already, Rose?” Luke asked from the counter. 

“Yeah, she is. She doesn’t do well, staying still very long. I think it rubbed off her from the Doctor.” Sarah Jane wasn’t surprised that I was going to leave soon. 

I gave a small chuckle in confirmation. “I used to be the laziest person you ever met, but after I discovered the joys of running around from place to place, I couldn’t give it up.”

“Rose, what’s your title going to be?” Luke asked. 

I turned towards him, confused, “My title?”

“Yeah, like the Doctor was The Doctor. It sounds important and powerful. Are you just gonna stay, Rose? You could be The Rose, that’s kinda cool.” He mimed something with his hands. Magical powers, maybe.

“Luke!” SJ admonished him. “She can stay just Rose if she wants.”

“No, it’s a good idea. Rose is a very human name. People won’t take me seriously when I am named after a flower. At least for when I am fighting revolutions or invasions or whatever else there is out there. ” It made sense.

“Cool, what do you want to be called?” Luke asked excitedly. 

“I don’t know, do you have any ideas?” I asked him, he was so excited about it and I had no clue. 

“Well, there is The Rose, Lady Rose, but those are kinda boring.” He didn’t look super excited. 

“What the Bad Wolf? You already were that once.” Sarah Jane chimed in. 

“ _ No, you're not the Bad Wolf anymore. It doesn’t fit anymore.”  _

“Nope, vetoed by the TARDIS. The Bad Wolf was a literal Time Goddess. I don’t know what I am exactly, but I am not a Time Goddess.” That would be too much to handle. 

“Ok, but we can work with the Wolf angle.” Luke jumped down and grabbed a notebook and pen from his backpack. Once back at the counter, he began scribbling all over the page. 

“Let us know what you come up with, Luke,” Sarah Jane said as she turned back to the cooking dinner. I quickly got to stirring my assorted pots.

After we had eaten a delicious dinner and were stuffed full, we moved to the couch to watch the New Years Special. We sat in silence for a while before Luke couldn’t hold himself in. 

“Ok, so I have a few options. I have my favorite, but I’ll let you pick.” He handed me the paper, and I leaned over so SJ could read it too. 

  1. Lady Rose
  2. The Rose
  3. The Rose Wolf
  4. The Wolf Rose
  5. The Wolf
  6. Lady Wolf



Luke has incredible handwriting for only being six months old. And he was very creative, some of these were amazing. I immediately didn’t like the first two. He didn’t seem fazed when I told him that either. 

“I don’t like the combinations. It’s too much.” Sarah Jane was right. It was too much, so that knocked off the first 4. 

“So it’s between The Wolf and Lady Wolf.” I looked up at Luke, “Which one is your favorite?”

“Lady Wolf.” He looked pleased that we hadn’t vetoed his favorite. 

“I like that one. It sounds mighty and professional. Perfect defender of the Earth title.” Sarah Jane agreed with her son. 

_ “Me too, Lady Wolf is awesome.”  _ She had been quiet for a while, but I didn’t jump in shock anymore when she spoke out of nowhere. 

“The TARDIS likes it too,” I told them. 

“But what about you, Rose? Do you like it?” Luke was eager. 

“I do. I think that’s it. Lady Wolf.” It sounded good on my tongue. 

That day sitting on Sarah Jane’s couch with her son after a delicious dinner, a legend was born. Lady Wolf would come to command the Universe, and everyone who went against her would regret it. Eventually, Lady Wolf would grow a Wolf Pack, and they would protect the universe together. Not that we knew it that day, it had started out trying to entertain a teenager/6 month old. 

But for today, Lady Wolf and the first members of the Wolf Pack would sit on the couch and watch the ball drop. They are chiming in a new year, the beginning of an incredible story.


	8. A Trip to the Hospital

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year!
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy the beginning of Martha's story. Most of her character to me in the show was a student doctor and her infatuation with the doctor. I tried to keep some elements of her character but she will end up being a little OCC. 
> 
> Happy reading!

Chapter 8 

Rose 

A Trip to the Hospital

When I went back into the TARDIS after new years with a new title, I resumed what I had been doing before. Reading books and taking notes, I was getting good at reading Gallifreyan and only needed the dictionary part of the time. There wasn’t anything urgent that we had to go and solve, so we took our time floating around in the vortex. The other thing we did was unlock everything in my brain. 

I had thought it would be painful, suddenly gaining all this knowledge from a sentient timeship, but surprisingly it hadn’t. She had me lay in my bed and close my eyes. What we were doing was taking place in my mind, but I might as well be comfortable. When I looked inside my mind, it was a vast dark blue landscape, much bigger than it had been before. It must have been growing to accommodate the TARDIS and our connection. I noticed the brick wall that kept my tattered bond locked away. I looked away from the wall and saw the bright bobbing light in my head, the TARDIS. She was bobbing away from where I was; I followed her. She led me to a large garage door looking thing and waited for me to catch up. 

“A garage door?” I couldn’t believe that the secrets to everything were hidden behind a garage door. 

“ _ That’s what your mind has decided it looks like. I don’t perceive myself a floating ball of light; you do that.”  _

“That makes more sense,” I had to give her that. 

“ _ All you have to do is unlock the door, and then it will be open to you.”  _ She was incredibly patient with me, and for that, I was thankful. 

“Is there a key?” Most locks have a key.

“ _ You are the key, My Wolf. It is all up to you.” _

I blew out a puff of air (metaphorically or physically, I’m not sure.), I can do this. I placed my hand on the garage wall. I pictured it opening, sharing its secrets with me. After a few moments of this, the door began rising. I had to close my eyes (metaphorically) to protect them from the bright light. 

Once it had risen as far as it was going to go, I opened my eyes back up. My mind had just grown ten times the size it was before. I had thought it big then; now, it was ginormous. I walked into the new areas. Somehow I knew exactly what was what. I knew that in that section was knowledge about the TARDIS. That section knew the Time Lords and Gallifrey. This one had planetary knowledge, and the section next to it identified different species. There was an extra-large section about time. And one the same size about languages. It just kept going and going, more information than I thought possible. I didn’t know when I was going to be able to get through this all. 

I went over to the section of knowledge about that TARDIS. What she had said about the whooshing was still bothering me. That she wasn’t supposed to sound like that. The first thing I saw in that section was a manual. Never seen that before, I wondered if it was in the actual TARDIS. 

“ _ Not anymore. The abandoner threw it into a supernova when it wouldn’t tell him what he wanted.”  _

The worst part was that I could see him doing exactly that. He tended to get mad at inanimate objects when they didn’t tell him what he wanted to hear. I opened the manual and began reading. You could say I didn’t need to read it because it was already information stored in my memory, but accessing something didn’t feel the same as learning it. I had come to enjoy learning about these things recently. 

“Wait a minute! Your parking brake is on? That’s why you make the noise?” I couldn’t believe it. “Isn’t that like bad for you? I know cars aren’t supposed to drive with the parking brake on.”

“ _ Yes, that’s the cause of the noise. It is actually an alarm designed to tell you the parking brake is on. It isn’t bad for me per se but it uncomfortable. I’ve learned to deal with it, though.” _

I left my mindscape at that and shot out of my bed. I was in the consul room before I knew what I was doing. I removed one of the gratings and crawled beneath it. I pulled the manual open in my mind and followed the directions. I had to manually release the parking brake since it had been stuck for literal centuries. After that, I popped out from below and found the switch on the consul. It was the only one that looked like a light switch, go figure. 

_ “Ahh, that feels so much better, my wolf. Thank you so much.” _ If she could have stood up and stretched, I think she would have. 

“Your welcome, TARDIS.” I gave her consul a light pat. 

“ _ You can call me something other than TARDIS and Old Girl if you want. Those are just what he called me.”  _

“What would you like to be called?” It hadn’t occurred to me that she might want to be called something different. 

“ _ I have no problems with those names, but I feel as if you and I are past those. We are each other’s other half. Perhaps sisters?”  _ She almost sounded hesitant. 

“Sisters,” I smiled widely. “I like that. How bout I just call you sister?”

“ _ That sounds perfect, my wolf, my sister.” _

“Good. Now, I am sure you have some books laid out for me to read, sis.”

She only gave a low hum in response. I chuckled and headed off to the library.

\--------------------------------------

_ “Somethings happening on Earth.”  _ Well, that is a bit of an ominous way to wake up.

“Good Morning to you too, sis.” I rolled my eyes as I got out of my bed. I quickly made my way to the loo and went to the bathroom without looking at the mirror. I always looked awful in the morning, and I wasn’t excited to see myself. Once done, I went to brush my teeth, had to get rid of that awful morning breath. Before I could get my toothbrush to my mouth, I caught sight of myself in the mirror. I screamed and dropped my toothbrush on the floor. 

“ _ What, what is it?!”  _ Sister screamed in my head. 

“I’m showing. My baby is showing. Just a little bit, but I am actually showing.” I rubbed my hands on my small bump, it was genuine now, huh? God, I wished he was here with me, but I sucked it up pretty quickly. I had known I was pregnant for almost two months now, but this made it sink in. We had calculated that I was now about 12 weeks along, and all the baby books SJ had gotten me said I would begin showing around now. I had been obsessively reading those books since we left her hours 4 weeks ago. 

“ _ Oh, is that a good thing?”  _ Sister asked.

“Yes, yes, love, it's a good thing. I’ll have to send a picture to SJ. She’ll want to see this. Remind me to do it later after we deal with whatever is happening on Earth.” After another moment of staring at my stomach, I moved on to the task at hand. Quickly I finished getting ready and made my way to the consul room.

“Ok, what's going on with Earth now?” 

“ _ I am not sure yet, I am still scanning but it’s happening at the Royal Hope Hospital. Feel like a prenatal appointment?”  _ I wasn’t, but if we had to go to a hospital, I might as well use it as an excuse to get a check-up.

“ _ Good, I already made you an appointment with the on-call doctor today. It's a teaching hospital, so there are going to be student doctors there as well.” _

Fun. Let's get poked and prodded at by a bunch of baby doctors. She flashed some coordinates in my mind, and I went about imputing them. No spotlighting anymore, I knew exactly what to do and how to drive. I was a better driver than my husband if I do say so myself.

“ _ You are. Also, we are here.” _

I grabbed my new blue leather jacket and a book on quantum physics. Might as well get some reading in while I wait for whatever is going to happen. I checked my pockets for my sonic, my phone, and physic paper (I had found it in the pockets of his trench coat.) Once I was all set, off, I went.

\------------------------------------

The curtain around my hospital bed was pulled open, and I closed my book quickly. I looked up to be surrounded by an older man in a suit and several young doctor students. Each had a notepad and a frazzled look on their face. 

“Ahh, Ms. Lupin, how are you feeling today? The cramps aren’t back, are they? I know we kept you here overnight to make sure nothing was wrong with the child.” The man asked me. 

“No, not nearly as bad as they were last night. Still slight twinges every so often but nothing bad.” I answered him; happily, I hadn’t had cramps, but we still hadn’t figured out what was going on. So I faked them to get an overnight stay, I had enough bad periods in my life to pretend.

“Rose Lupin, admitted last night with severe abdominal cramps. She is also 12 weeks pregnant. We kept her overnight to make sure that the baby was healthy, and nothing was happening.” He lectured over his students for a moment before turning back to me. “If the cramps don’t get worse before this evening then I think we have grounds to discharge you and hope this was all nothing.”

He turned back to one of the students next to him, “Jones, why don’t you see what you can find. Is there any reason why Miss Lupin should be having cramps at 12 weeks? Amaze me.”

The woman quickly slipped her notebook into her pocket and walked to the other side of my bed. “You probably shouldn’t have been running around outside this morning, Ms. Lupin. That couldn’t help you or the baby.”

I turned to her, confused, “Huh?

_ “You weren’t running outside this morning, were you?” _ No, I was not. Interesting, why would I come back to this morning. Well, that's for a future me to find out. 

“Outside, on Chancellor street? You offered me a chip.” The woman doctor clarified. I shook my head negatively. 

“Wasn’t me, sorry. I don’t share chips.”

“Well, that’s weird. It looked just like you. Do you have a sister?” She took off her stethoscope and looked at me a moment. 

“Not a sister that looks anything like me.” My sister was a great blue box.

“As time passes and I grow ever more infirm and weary, Dr. Jones.” The older man said from the other side. 

“Sorry,” She looked down, ashamed for a moment before listening to my heartbeat with the stethoscope. Then she put it on my stomach. “I don’t hear anything out of the ordinary. Is it possible that it’s just indigestion mixing with the pregnancy?”

“That is an easy diagnosis, are you sure? You don’t want to be wrong and cause this woman more undue pain than necessary. Besides, you skipped the most crucial part.” He walked to the edge of my bed and pulled my chart out. “You forgot to look at her chart.” As he pulled it out, he got a massive shock; I thought I saw the electricity for a moment. 

The doctors surrounding me went on about how they had all be shocked this morning as well. I was conferring with the TARDIS. 

“ _ That was a large amount of static electricity. I am detecting a lot surrounding the hospital. There is a thunderstorm ahead, but it shouldn’t be causing these levels. I’ll keep looking.” _

By the time I looked up, the doctors were moving away from me. I guess they had seen all they needed too. I cracked my book back open, but before I began reading, I noticed the doctor from before looking at me as she walked away. I gave her a quick smile, and then she was gone.

\----------------------------------

_ “The thunderstorm from before, it’s only above the hospital. All of the surrounding areas are dry and sunny.”  _

I looked up from my phone and the excited text message from SJ and Luke.  _ Well, that can’t be good. Should I do some investigating? _

_ “I think it might be too late for that. The rain from the storm has now reversed directions. It’s going up.” _

“Huh?” Before I could get an answer, there were some bright flashes of lightning and claps of thunder. The building began to rattle, and everyone began to fall and crash into things. People were screaming, and my bed began rolling around the floor. 

“ _ Where did you go?” _

What, we didn’t go anywhere. It felt like an earthquake.

_ “The entire hospital has moved. Hold on; I’ve got your location. You are on the moon. The entire hospital is on the moon. I can’t get to you. I require a pilot.” _

Well, this is going to be fun. It’s ok, I’ll figure it out, and you can help me more than just for transporting. I blew out a puff of air. I’ve got this. 

It only took a few minutes for the screams to begin again. This time not fear of the supposed earthquake but of now being on the moon. The student doctor from before came into the room and started trying to calm the patients. She was excellent under pressure. I’ll give her that. I could see the panic in her eyes, though. I quickly pulled my curtain back around my bed and got changed out of the hospital gown. 

“It’s real. It’s really real.” I heard the doctor exclaimed. “Hold on.”

Whatever she was going to do was stopped by another doctor next to her. “Don’t. We will lose all the air.”

Oh, she wanted to open a window. Clever. 

“But they’re not exactly airtight. If the air was going to be sucked out, why has it happened yet? So why not?”

She was smart. I liked her. 

“ _ Me too, she’s quick.” _

I pulled the curtain back and stepped towards the pair of doctors. “Excellent point. What’s your name?”

She was quick to answer, “Martha Jones.”

“Well, Martha Jones, how are we still breathing? Martha, is there a balcony or something on this floor?” I had an idea, but I was testing her. Her friend began crying in earnest, well she wasn’t going to be much help now. 

“By the patients' lounge,” Martha answered. 

“Fancy a breather?” The real test. 

She looked terrified for a moment before she straightened up and agreed. 

“We might die,” She needed to be aware of the risks. 

“ _ You won’t. It will just be extremely uncomfortable.”  _ Not helping. 

“We might not die.” Martha was fun. 

“You are one brave doctor, huh? Come on!” I raced off with her following behind me. 

Once we reached the doors, I paused. Martha joined me, and we opened the doors together. Martha walked out, amazed that we had air. I was pretty happy that I was right. I was still pretty new at doing this on my own, you know.

“ _ You are doing wonderful.” _

‘We have air, how?” Martha questioned. 

“Be glad that we do have it.” I know I was glad, who knows how long I would be up here on the moon before I was rescued if we ran out of air. 

“I’ve got a party tonight.” Martha sounded sad. “It’s my brother’s 21st. My mums gonna be..” She trailed off. 

“Are you ok, Martha?” I knew she wasn’t, but what else do you say at this moment. 

She brushed the concern off. 

“Do you want to go back in?” I asked her. 

“No way. We could die in the next moment, but this is one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen before. I’m mean here we are on the moon.” 

“Standing in the earthlight.” I rested my arms on the balcony railing. 

“What do you think happened?” Matha wondered aloud.

I turned the question back on her. “What do you think?”

She thought for a moment, “Extraterrestrial. It’s gotta be. A few years ago, that would have sounded mad but now after everything that's happened. A space ship flying into Big Ben. The last two Christmases. Those cybermen things. I had a cousin, Adeola. She worked at Canary Warf, never came home.” She stared off into the distance at Earth. 

I felt tears well in my eyes but pushed them back. “I’m sorry. I lost my family that day. All gone in one swoop.” I joined her in staring at Earth. 

“I promise you, Ms. Lupin, we will find a way out of this if we can travel to the moon that we can travel back. There has got to be a way to do this.”

At the end of her promise, I corrected her. “My name isn’t Ms. Lupin. That’s not my name.” 

“Well, then, who are you?” She turned to ask me, but I was picking a rock out of one of the planted pots on the balcony. 

“I am Lady Wolf. But my friends call me, Rose.”

“Lady Wolf? How do you mean?”

“That’s my title. Lady Wolf, it’s a long story.”

“Ok, weird. We survive this, you tell me?” It was a good bargain. 

“Sure,” I nodded my head and then pulled my arm back to throw my rock. 

“ _ You like her.”  _ Yeah, so what?

I had a good throwing arm now apparently because the rock bounced off something and hit the floor below us. 

“Cool, force-field,” Martha whispered. “That’s what’s keeping the air in, right, Rose?”

“Yes, just like a bubble sealing us in. Oh, that’s not good. That means that we have now is all we have. We are gonna run out eventually. Everyone is going to suffocate, eventually.”

“Why would anyone do that to a hospital?”

A crashing noise interrupted any answer I had. We looked up and saw three cylindrical space ships floating over us. They landed in front of the hospital with a tremendous crash. Quickly they began unloading their passengers. 

“Aliens,” Matha said beside me. “That’s aliens. Real propper aliens.” I didn’t tell her that she has been standing next to one for the last half hour. I recognized the aliens coming out of the ship. I remembered them from the TARDIS side of my brain. 

“Judoon.” They were marching in straight lines coming straight for the hospital. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave some love in the form of comments, kudos, and bookmarkers!


	9. Rhinos on the Moon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave some love in the form of kudos, comments, and bookmarks!

Chapter 9

Rose

Rhinos on the Moon

The people began screaming again when the Judoon entered the hospital. I could hear the sounds of the synchronous steps. 

“Bo! Sco! Fo! Do! No! Kro! Blo! Co! Sho! Ro!” That was quickly followed by what sounded like swords being pulled out of armor. But fortunately, I knew from the TARDIS side of my brain that they didn’t carry swords. We finally got down to the 2nd level where we could see the Judoon, they were pointing lights at the humans and marking them off. What for?

“ _ They are searching for something.”  _

“What are Judoon?” Martha asked as she crouched beside me. 

“They are like the police. Well, more like police-for-hire. Kinda interplanetary thugs.” This information in my brain was beneficial. 

“And they brought us to the moon?” Martha was smart. She was putting the pieces together like a puzzle.

“Neutral ground, kinda like Switzerland. According to galactic law, they have no jurisdiction on earth. So they isolate what they want and move it. They used something called an H2O scoop.”

“Why are you on about Galatic Law. Where do you even get that stuff from?” 

_ “From the all-knowing spaceship that you are physically linked with.”  _ Not helping. Funny, but not helping. 

“If they are police, are they here to arrest us or something? We can’t be trespassing on the moon; they put us here.” Martha said. 

“No, wish it was that simple. They are cataloging everyone here. That means that they are looking for something non-human. Which means bad news for me.” I moved over to another part of the balcony to see from a different angle. Martha followed with more questions. 

“Why?” I just turned and looked at her. She was smart; all she needed to do was put the pieces together. “Oh, you’re kidding me, right?” I raised an eyebrow, “Don’t be ridiculous. Stop looking at me like that.”

“ _ Has she figured it out yet?”  _ I think she just got there. 

“Come on then,” I quickly made my way off the balcony and away from the Judoon. Martha staring after me for a moment before following. 

\-------------------------------------

A few floors up, I crashed through an exam room door, Martha following a moment later. I pushed things out of the way and began sonicing a computer. I needed to find out who they were looking for. God forbid it was me. 

“They’ve reached the 3rd floor. What’s that thing?” Martha gestured to my sonic. 

“Sonic Screwdriver.”

“Well, if you’re not going to answer me properly.” She sounded a little annoyed. 

“No, it is called a sonic screwdriver. Think about it like a multiuse tool” It was a funny name, and it really wasn’t an actual screwdriver. 

“Wierd. But ok.”

The computer continued to refuse to give me any proper information. I gave it a swat on the top to see if that would do anything. It didn’t. 

“The Judoon must have locked down the computer. Which is seriously rude considering I am trying to escape them. How do I get swept up in these things?”

_ “We go looking for them.” _

“Oh, right. I go looking for them. Gosh, I’m a fool.”

‘Ok, what are the Jud..judo..the rhinos looking for?” Martha had said it right before, but I guess it takes practice. 

“They are looking for something that appears human but isn’t.” I ran a hand through my hair. 

“Like you? Wait, are you pregnant with an alien baby?” Martha looked weirded out. 

“Like me but not me. I’m a nice alien, and yes, it’s an alien baby. But not like those you see in the films. My pregnancy is going to be almost identical to humans.” I sure was glad when sister and I had come to that conclusion. I had been terrified of having an unknown factor pregnancy. At least this way, we kinda knew what to expect. 

Martha looked at me for a moment before moving off the subject. “Don’t they just have a photo of what they are looking for? A wanted poster or something?”

“It could be a shape-changer, a photo wouldn’t do any good.”

“Can’t you just leave the Judoon to find, whatever it is?” Martha asked.

“If they declare the hospital guilt of hiding a fugitive, they kill the entire hospital. Legally, of course, kinda.” Galactic law was not super helpful.

“All of us? The entire hospital?” Martha sounded scared, and I didn’t blame her. 

“Unfortunately, yes. But if I can figure it out first, then maybe we solve this.” The computer began closing all of the pages I had open. “God, they cleared the records. Stupid thick Judoon. That’s not going to help anyone.” I threw my hands up in the air, annoyed. 

“What is it that we are looking for?” Marth asked, trying to calm me down. 

“Any patient admitted in the last week with unusual symptoms.” I closed my eyes and tried to think. 

“Ok, I’ll go find Mr. Stoker, he’ll probably know.” Martha turned and left without waiting for an answer from me. 

“ _ We will find the culprit, love.” _ Yeah, I hope so. 

\-------------------------------------------

Less than 5 minutes later, I had given up with the computer and went to find Martha. I found her running away from two leather-clad men in motorcycle helmets. She looked frightened as she crashed into me. 

“I found her,” She panted as she tried to catch her breath. 

“You did?” I looked up to see the leather men closing in, “Run.” I grabbed her hand and pulled her along with me. We ran down the hallway jumping over frighten patients. I didn’t look back to see how close our pursuers were. 

We tried to go downstairs only to be faced with Judoon coming up. We turned around and tried for option number 3. The 4th floor, the middle point between Judoon and leather men. It was pretty deserted, did that help our case, I don’t know. Eventually, we turned down a hallway and into another exam room. I used my sonic to lock the door and hoped for the best. I turned around to see what we had in here with us. There was an X-Ray machine that could be helpful. I pushed Marth into the room with the controls. 

“When I say “now” push the on button.”

She turned to me, “But I don’t know which one!” 

“Find out,” I pulled the arm down and began sonicing it. 

“ _ Hurry up.”  _ Seriously, not helping right now. The leatherman was about to kick the door down. 

The door crashed into the floor, and I pointed the X-Ray arm at him. “Now!” I closed my eyes tight. 

Martha must have done it because the noise of the x-ray was amplified for a moment before I heard a crash in front of me. I opened my eyes to find the leatherman prone on the floor in front of me. 

“What did you do?” Martha asked from behind the glass. 

I didn’t know; I was following my instincts. I didn’t want to tell her that. 

_ “Increased radiation by 5,000 %. Killed him pretty quick. The radiation won’t affect you or the child. Roentgen radiation is harmless to you and Gallifreans. It’s actually like a treat to me, and it tastes delicious.”  _ Wow, okay. 

“I increased the radiation by quite a lot. It killed him on the spot. You can come on out, I’ve absorbed the radiation.” I was pretty impressed at my calm facade, that was crazy. 

_ “Well, I absorbed the radiation through you.”  _ Oh, hush. 

“And your alien baby?” Martha asked hesitantly. 

I smiled at her, “They are going to be fine. The radiation doesn’t affect them or me like it does humans or that.” I waved my hand at the leatherman. 

“What is it? Where is it from Planet Zovirax?” She asked. 

“Nah, it called a slab. Essentially a slave drone completely made of leather.” I hadn’t even known what it was until the words came out of my mouth. Weird. 

“The alien, it’s a woman I saw today on rounds. Miss Finnegan. The slab was working for her, and she has another one. She was sucking the blood out of Mr. Stoker like some fancy vampire.” Martha was beginning to sound nervous. 

“That’s a funny time to have a snack. You would think she would be laying low, hiding. Unless, maybe, ohh. She’s a shape-changer but not in the way we thought. She’s an internal shape-changer. She was assimilating his blood to appear to be human. That just might fool the Judoon. We will have to prove to the Judoon that she isn’t human. Come on!” I quickly ran around her and the slab corpse. 

On our way out, we had to duck down and out of the way of the second slab. He didn't notice us as we walked past. 

“There is the second one you mentioned. They always have a partner.” I whispered to Martha as he passed us. 

“What about you? Don’t you have a backup? A partner or something? You are having a baby. You shouldn’t be alone.” Martha looked at me, questioningly. 

I almost didn’t answer her, but something drove me to explain. “I used to, my baby’s father, but he’s gone now. It just me and baby.” 

_ “And me,”  _ Sister whispered in my head. Well yeah, but you are slightly harder to explain. 

She had to concede to my point. “ _ By the way, Sarah Jane has been calling your phone. I have been redirecting the calls, but you are going to want to call her when you are done with this.” _

I gave her a mental nod and moved on. We ran out of our hiding spot and directly into the path of the Judoon. It shined its light scanner at me.

“Non-human.” The Judoon boomed. 

“Time to run.” I grabbed Martha’s hand, and off we went. Just barely making it out of the Judoon’s weapon range before they fired. I heard the sound of them following us. But we managed to hide on a floor they already cleared. 

Martha stopped next to a doctor holding an oxygen mask to the patient's face. It was the doctor from before who had been hysterical, nice to know she calmed down.

“How much oxygen do we have?” She asked the doctor. 

“Not enough, we will all suffocate soon.” The doctor didn’t try and hide that fact from the patient, which meant it was true. Martha looked at me.

“What about you? Or the Judoon?”

“I’ll be fine. The Judoon have great big reserves of oxygen and tanks on top of that. Where is Mr. Stoker’s office?” 

Martha was quick to get up and lead me to his office. We were lucking; it was just a few doors down from where we were. I gestured for her to stay behind me and went to investigate. Mr. Stoker was lying pale on the floor, the room a little trashed, and no internal shape changer to be found. 

“She was here,” Martha told me, slightly annoyed.

“He is drained of every last drop of blood. She is a plasmavore.” I sat back on my heels. 

“What is she doing on Earth?” Martha asked from behind me. 

“Hiding, most likely. On the run. But she has to have some kind of redundancy plan. The Judoon could just kill us all if they don’t find her. Come on!” I was quick to leave the office, and Martha followed after pausing to close Mr. Stoker’s eyes.

“Ok, what would a wanted plasmavore do when surrounded by the police? Think!” The doctor would have known the answer to this. 

“ _ Defense, she knows she about to be captured. How could she defend herself from that.” _

I looked up, and there the answer was. 

MRI sign. In big red letters. There was a crash, and then the Judoon were closing in. 

I turned to Martha, “Stay here. I need more time. You need to slow them down somehow.”

“How do I do that?” She looked at the Judoon nervously. I had an idea, it was going to be awkward, but it was the best way I could think of buying myself more time. 

“Forgive me,” I licked both my hands and wiped them on her face. 

“Euggg,” Martha screamed, but I was too busy running away to do anything about it. I followed the signs to the MRI room and was greeted by some bright flashing lights coming from inside. 

I slowly opened the door to see the MRI machine alight with electricity as if it had been struck by lightning. I scanned the room to find Ms. Finnegan in the control booth, her hand bearing the mark of human from the Judoon. 

_“Play dumb?”_ Works for me. 

“Have you seen it? There are these things! These great big space rhino things! Space rhinos with great big guns on the moon! And we’re on the moon! What kinda drugs are these doctors giving us? I haven’t tripped this hard since secondary school with this guy I used to mess around with.” I made my voice really high pitched and waved my arms about in all kinds of directions. Miss. Finnegan walked up to me with a doubtful look on her face. 

She looked behind me, “Hold her.” I turned too late to see the second slab grabbing hold of my face. 

Moments later, I was being held by the slab, and Miss. Finnegan was inspecting the MRI machine. It’s electricity outputs were coming faster and faster. I would need to do something about that quickly. 

“That big machine, is it supposed to be making that noise?” It wouldn’t hurt if she told me what her entire plan was, make it easier for me. 

“You wouldn’t understand.” She waved me off. 

“But I’ve seen those on the telly. Isn’t it like some really big magnet?” Gosh, playing dumb was fun, you get to be so inventive. 

“A magnet with it’s setting now increased to 50,000 teslas.” She had an evil grin on her face as she told me that. 

_ “That's not good.”  _ Really, I never would have guessed. 

“That’s a bit high, right? What could you possibly do with a magnet that strong?” I was genuinely curious. 

“It’ll send out a magnetic pulse that’ll fry the brainstems of every living thing within 250,000 miles. Except for me, safe in this room.” She had a terrifying, evil smile.

“ _ By the great time goddess.”  _ My words exactly. 

“But wait, hold on. I was pretty good at geography class in school. Doesn’t that distance include earth?”

“Only the side facing the moon, the other half will be fine. My gift to humanity.” She waved it off as if it were nothing. 

“Sorry, that’s a little more than my brain can handle. Why would you do that? Half of humanity wiped out, like a film.” Seriously, why. 

“Well, with everyone dead, the Judoon ships will be there for my escape.” She said it as if it made perfect sense. I guess for an evil person, it did. 

“You make it sound like you are an alien that's gonna escape on the rhino ships.” 

“You are quite bright, you are correct.” She had a proud smile on her face. For her plan or me deducing her plan while pretending to be dumb, I didn’t know.

“No!” I made it sound as if it was the craziest thing I had heard. 

“Oh, yes.”

“Oh, you’re pulling my chain.” She was falling for my act, incredible. 

“I am not.”

“I am talking to an alien, in a hospital? What has this place got an ET department. Is alien life anything like ET, love that film.”

“Oh, but hospitals are the perfect hiding place. Plenty of food in the blood banks and plenty of protection should anything happen to me.” She patted the MRI machine. 

“The space rhinos are looking for you?” I made my face all amazed as if it had just dawned on me. 

“Well, yes. But fortunately, I am hidden from them.” She walked up to me and waved her marked hand in front of my face. 

“Oh, then that must be why they are increasing their scans. They haven’t found what they are looking for, which is you.” Here the hook. 

_ “I hope this works, if she attacks you, you and the baby will survive. It’ll hurt and be incredibly uncomfortable. But you’ll be fine.”  _ I swallowed down my fear and kept going. 

Miss Finnegan turned towards me, shocked. “They are doing what?” 

“The big rhino man that seems to be in charge said something like, “no sign of non-human. We must increase our scans up to setting two.” Here the line. 

“Then I must assimilate again.” And there sinks a plasmavore. 

“Say what?” I asked, hiding my smile. 

“I must appear to be human.” She quickly went over to the control booth of the MRI. She came out holding her purse. She pulled something out of it. “Here is my straw.”

She moved closer to me, twirling the straw. She looked at the slab holding me. “Steady her, I do hate a squirmer, they make such a mess.” She rubbed the side of my neck, probably looking for a vein. 

“What..uh...What are you doing?” I braced myself for the pain. 

“I’m afraid this is going to hurt. But it won’t last very long.” She stabbed my neck with the straw, which was much sharper than it should be, and began to suck. 

_ “You’ll be ok.”  _ I couldn’t respond. 

The sucking hurt, it felt very odd to have my blood pulled out in one tiny spot, but that wasn’t what really bothered me. What bugged me was the noise she was making, did she have to suck on the straw like a child. Slurp...slurp...was this what others died too? That is awful; I feel so bad for them. I begin to pass out, but just as I did, I heard the Judoon enter. I prayed it would work before I lost consciousness. 

\-----------------------------------------

“ _ Time to wake up now, wake up, wolf.”  _ I tried to bat away the annoying alarm. 

The sound of stomping and electricity began to make themselves present, but it wasn’t enough to make me care. Something was pinching my nose; it was tickling. Now, something was pushing on my ribcage; it hurt. 

“One, two, three, four, five.” That was funny. The pushing was at the same time as the numbers. Weird. 

_ “You need to wake up!” _ She screamed in my ear. 

I woke up with a gasp, Martha laid prone next to me. 

“The scanner, she did something.” Her voice was so quiet I barely heard it. I looked up to see the scanner going much faster than it had before—the electricity jumping all over the place. 

I pushed myself off the ground. My neck hurt, my ribs hurt, my whole body ached from blood loss, but I wasn’t going to let all of these people and half of the earth die. I half walked half crawled into the control room. I unplugged a large red extinction cord and hoped for the best. The electricity stopped, and I was able to get up actually on my feet. 

I grabbed Martha and slung her over my shoulder, her face hanging near my back. We had to get out of that room. I didn’t know how much exposure was already in there. I carried her out and into the hallway. I needed to see if the Judoon would return us to earth or just let us die. There was a big window, and by the time I got there, it was raining. Raining on the moon. One big flash of light and we were back on Earth. 

\---------------------------------

I sneaked out of the hospital and passed all the authorities. I didn’t need to be questioned. I wouldn’t give them any answers. The people in the hospital would tell them what they saw, and it would be up to the human race to decide if it happened. 

Just as I reached the TARDIS, I heard someone shout Martha’s name and turned around to see her being embraced by another woman. She looked happy and hugged her back. With a quick little wave, I was inside the TARDIS and out of sight. By the time she looked back, if she looked back, I was gone. 

Inside the TARDIS, everything was calm. No police sirens, ambulances from other hospitals, no news reporters, no journalists. 

My phone rang. Well, one journalist. I pulled it out and answered the call. I pulled it away from my ear because she was screaming. 

“Rose, what happened? Where did that hospital go, and what happened?” SJ said instead of a greeting. 

“Hello, to you to SJ. Everything is fine. I took care of it. We just took a short trip to the moon; there were Judoon and a plasmavore. It was just a regular adventure on the TARDIS. 

“Rose.” She didn’t sound impressed. 

“It’s a long story, but everything is fine. The hospital is back, and place and the Judoon found who they were looking for before she killed everyone. I made a friend.”

“I’m glad you made a friend. I was calling you on and off all day.”

“Ohh, yeah. The old girl was redirecting your calls. I was a little busy, sorry.” I said sheepishly. 

“Ok. Fine, as long as everything is fine. Now tell me about this friend.” Sarah Jane said. 

I told her all about Martha and how she was a student doctor. How she had been the calmest one about landing on the moon and how she had thought through all her questions and answers logically. I told her how much I liked her and how I hoped we could be friends. 

When she asked me what happened after we got back and I told her nothing, I think she wanted to hit me over the head for being dumb. She said how I should have invited her to travel with me and that I still could. I told her I would consider it and that I would see her and Luke soon. After a quick goodbye, I went to put my phone down, but I noticed a new message waiting for me. 

“ _ Hey Rose, it’s Donna. I just wanted to say you did great bringing back the hospital from wherever it was. I saw something that said the moon, which I don’t really believe but who knows. Talk to you later. Donna. _ ” I texted her back a thank you and told her that yes, it was the moon.

After that, I just wanted to take a nap. I was exhausted between being pregnant, having the blood drained from my body, and the overall trip to the moon. Sister moved my room to be the first room in the hallway, and I collapsed on my bed, still in my clothes. 

\--------------------------------------

_ “Are we going back for Martha?”  _ She asked as I made a cup of tea. 

“I don’t know. I liked her, and it would be nice to have a friend around.” I sat down at the table and stirred my tea. 

“ _ I like her too, let's go and ask her. She can be your first companion, that’ll be fun.” _

“But what about everything else? And how do you even ask someone to leave their life behind and travel with someone you just met. How did he do it?”

“ _ You asked Donna, remember?” _

_ “ _ I didn’t think she would say yes and remember what she said? She practically criminalized our entire way of life, what if Martha does too?” I felt terrible throwing Donna under the bus, but what she had said hurt. 

_ “You’ll never know until you ask.”  _

“Huh, I suppose. Let's go.” I gulped down my tea and made my way to the consul room. 

A few moments later, we were parked in an alleyway. I could hear the sounds of an argument and held back. Martha was there; I heard her voice. I crept up a little bit to see what was going on. There was an entire family and what looked to be the dad midlife crisis arguing in the street outside the bar. The arguing reached a new level before everyone, but Martha split off into different groups heading in two different directions. Martha shook her head before looking up and seeing me. I gave a small wave and a smile before I turned the corner with a “come on” look. I heard her following me. 

Once she found me, I stood in front of the TARDIS with the door cracked. 

“I went to the moon today.” SHe didn’t make it a question but a fact. 

“It’s nice up there, right. The eternal silence.” That family was a bit much, but who was I to talk. My family had been bonkers before everything happened. 

“You promised to tell me how you got your name, Lady Wolf.” 

_ “That’s right, you did.”  _ I had honestly forgotten. 

“I did, didn’t I? It’s a long story.”

“You’re an alien, pregnant with an alien baby, and your title is Lady Wolf. You also somehow survived having your blood drained by a plasmavore. I need more than that.”

“How bout this, I take you on a trip, and I’ll tell you more.” I didn’t mind taking the long way to the question. 

“A trip into space?” She looked both excited and sad. “I can’t; I have exams and things to do. I can’t just skip out on everything I have going on here.” 

“My ship can also travel in time.” That might convince her. 

She didn’t believe me, “Get out of here, no, you can’t.”

“I can.”

“Nope, I don’t believe it.” She waved her hands away. 

“What if I prove it?” I could do with some chips right now. 

“ _ I think I understand what she said when she was rounding on you this morning.”  _ I think I do too. I stepped into the TARDIS, and a couple of buttons later, we disappeared right before Martha’s eyes. 

Once landed in the bright morning, I made my way out and to a chip stand. After purchasing some delicious chips and covering them in salt and vinegar. I found the perfect place to wait for Martha to come by. 

“Ohh, there she is,” I said to myself. 

I jumped up and put myself directly in her path. She was on the phone with someone, but I didn’t care. I offered her a chip.

“Want one?” She looked confused out of her mind. 

“Uh, no, thanks.” 

She walked around me, and I shrugged. My job was done here, back in the TARDIS and back to Martha in no time. I stepped out of the TARDIS again a moment after I disappeared. This time holding chips, I offered her one again. 

“Want one?” She shook her head in disbelief. 

“But that was this morning, not right now.” Aww, she was in denial. That wouldn’t last very long. She stuttered for a moment before accepting what was right in front of her. “You can travel in time!”

I nodded my head to busy enjoying my chips for a proper answer. 

“You could have stopped the whole thing, the trip to the moon, the Juddon, the plasmavore. Why not?” It was a valid question for her. 

“Crossing into established events is tricky. It’s not aloud because it usually messes something up worse than it already was. Cheap tricks are different, so this trip for chips won’t affect anything.” I licked some salt off my fingers. 

‘And that’s your ship?” She walked up and around the TARDIS. 

“She is called the TARDIS. And a few other things, but TARDIS is her title, stands for “Time and Relative Dimension in Space,” but that's a bit wordy.”

“It’s made of wood,” she felt the paneling and looked at me like I was crazy. “And kinda small..be a tight a fit.”

I pushed the door open and said to her, “Take a look.”

She walked in amazed, her mouth dropped open and eyes wide. I followed behind her. She stared for a moment before running outside again. Presumably, to check the size. 

“But it’s just a box. A small wooden box. But it huge inside How does it do that?” She exclaimed. 

_ “I really like her. She compliments me.”  _ I compliment you all the time. “ _ It’s not the same.” _ Alright, weirdo. 

“It's bigger on the inside.” 

_ “That’s my favorite part.”  _ I didn’t think they actually said that. I thought he was joking. 

“Is it? I had noticed.” I closed the door and made my way to the consul. “Alright, let’s get going!”

“Don’t you need a crew?” Martha asked as she walked around the consul. 

“Nope, just me and the Old Girl. A crew would be fun, though.” I wouldn’t have to jump all over the place. 

“All on your own?” Martha sounded sad all of a sudden. 

“Uhh, this ship used to be my husband’s. Now he is gone, and I inherited it. It’s just been us since then. He used to have guests, and I started as one. Friends who liked to travel with him called them his companions. Anyway, a trip! Let’s go somewhere fun, random setting old girl!”

“Right now?” Martha asked. 

I looked at her, “That ok with you?”

“Hell yeah.” She gave me a wide grin and an enthusiastic nod. 

“Off we go,” I pulled the lever, and off we went. The OLd Girl was putting a few bumps in for fun. “Welcome aboard, Miss Jones.”

I reached out to shake her hand, and she did the same. “It’s my pleasure Rose, Lady Wolf. Whatever it is you are called.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave some love in the form of kudos, comments, and bookmarks!


	10. The Bard's a Flirt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy Martha's first trip to the past. 
> 
> Leave some love in the form of comments, kudos, and bookmarks!

Chapter 10

Rose

The Bard’s a Flirt

We rattled around the consul room for a few moments while the TARDIS decided what random place she wanted to go to. She shook us to and fro, having a lot of fun shaking us about. 

“Is this really necessary, Love?” I shouted at the ceiling. 

_ “But it's fun..” _

“Are you talking to the ship?” Martha asked me aghast as she held on for dear life. 

“Yeah, it's another part of that long story. We’ll get there.” I said. 

“Ok, this better be one hell of a story. How are we even traveling in time? What makes it work?” She was curious and I liked it. 

“ _ Does she really want to know?” _

“Ahh, let’s not take the mystery out of it. Won’t be fun anymore.” I had to climb onto the consul to press all the controls I wanted at the right moments. “Hold on,” I told her. 

One big bump later, Martha fell on her butt and I slipped off the consul. 

“Do you have to pass a test or something to fly this thing?” Martha asked winded. 

“ _ Well, technically but I don’t think you need to.”  _ Well, if you would behave, she wouldn’t ask that question. 

“Err, kinda. I’m a special case though. But the bumpiness was not my doing. She likes to have fun with first-time riders and shake them about. It wouldn’t be nearly as bad next time.” I gave the consul a light smack. “Let’s go, I wonder where we got to on random.” I made my way to the door, quickly grabbing my new blue leather jacket. Tossing Martha her red leather jacket as I passed it. 

“Outside this door, there is a brave new world. Are you ready Martha?” I turned to her with my back touching the door. 

“Where are we?” Martha looked excited. 

“ _ 1599, Elizabethan England.”  _ Really, oh this will be fun. 

“Come and take a look,” I told Martha. I opened the door behind me, “After you.”

She had an interesting look on her face, a cross of nervousness, and complete excitement. She quickly made her way out the doors and into the street. I followed right behind her. 

“You’re kidding me, oh my god, we actually did it. We traveled in time.” Her jaw was near on the floor. “Where are we? No, sorry. When are we? Whole new language, gotta get used to it.”

I heard the creak of a window opening and looked up just in time. I grabbed Martha back and we moved out of the way. A chamber pot was being emptied into the street. 

“Garde a l’eau!” The man shouted. The contents slopped down on the ground right where we had been standing a moment before. 

“Eugg..” That was something I would never get used to about time travel, no toilets. “We are apparently somewhere before the invention of the toilet. Sorry.”

“Eh, I’ve seen worse working the late shift in a&e at the hospital.” She waved it off. 

“I suppose I better get used to seeing poop all over the place. I only have a few months before I would be in charge of cleaning it up.” I went to step over it and move on Martha held back by the TARDIS. 

“But are we safe? I mean can we move around and stuff?” She was genuinely concerned and I remembered when I had that same thought. 

“Oh yeah. It’s nothing like the films, you’re not going to mess something monumental up by stepping on a butterfly. You're not going to kill your family line or anything by accidentally being somewhere you shouldn’t.” I told her everything that I had wondered about when I first traveled, I figured that covered all the basics.

“Really,” She let out a sigh of relief. “You’ve really done this before, haven’t you?”

I turned back to her, “I told you. I started out just like you and I know what it’s like, what questions are floating around in your head.”

“So this is London?” I guess she accepted my answers. 

“Pretty sure, yeah. 1599 or so.” I knew for sure but the mystery is so much more fun. 

She stopped suddenly, “What about me? Am I alright? I’m not going to be carted off as a slave am I?” For the first time since I picked her up, she sounded scared.

It was a legitimate fear of hers and I made sure to address it as best I could. “No, you shouldn’t be and even if you did I would rescue you immediately. I will never take you to a place that you are in that much danger. There will be danger around it kinda comes with the territory. But I’ll always do my best to keep us from it or save us. Walk around like you own the place and project confidence, we should be fine.”

She gave me a hesitant nod before moving on to join me and keep walking. 

“Besides, Elizabethan England, not so different from the 21st century.” I pointed to a man working with manure and a shovel. “Look, here’s recycling.” Then to two men talking next to a water casket. “A water cooler moment,” We then passed by a doomsday preacher, “and global warming.”

I could hear the sounds of crowds, music, and applauding. I sped up my pace and turned to see her matching me while putting her leather jacket on. “And..entertainment. Popular entertainment for the masses.”

“ _ Just up the walk and to the right, you’ll see it.” _

“We are right next to,” I pulled her along the street and down the way to see the Globe Theater. 

“The Globe Theater.” It was a bit of a tada moment. I remember when I met Charles Dickens, it was always so fun to meet the famous greats. “Although it's actually not a globe, it has 14 sides, it's not round. Containing the man himself.”

Martha stopped short, “Whoa, you don’t mean..” She trailed off and looked at me. I just smiled and let her come to the conclusion. “Is Shakespeare in there?”

“Oh, yes.” I hadn’t minded Shakespeare before in school but now with everything in my mind I was so much more excited. The opportunity for knowledge was incredible and some part of me craved it. “Would you like to go to the theater, Miss Jones?” 

“Why, yes. Yes, I would Rose.” We excitedly ran towards the theater. 

\---------------------------------------

Two hours later we stood in the standing area in front of the stages intermixed with all the other patrons. We had been very quickly reminded that along with the toilet, the shower hadn’t been invented yet. Luckily, we just breathed through our mouths. The play came to an end and we happily applauded with everyone else, it had been a masterpiece. 

“I love the men dressed as girls. The first-ever drag queens.” Martha slapped a hand over her mouth to cover her laugh. 

“Gosh, that’s amazing. Just amazing. The smell was even worth it.” Martha said after she stopped laughing. 

My hands were beginning to sting but I was having so much fun clapping to stop. 

“Where’s Shakespeare? I wanna see Shakespeare. Author! Author!” She began pumping her fist in the air but stopped after a moment and looked at me. “Do people do that? Do they shout ‘author’ here?”

Before I could give her a proper answer the man behind her began doing the same thing. It then quickly carried to the entire crowd. I looked around us at the crowd. “Uhh, I think they do now.”

She looked proud of herself for starting something and after a moment the stage door opened. Out came the man himself, at least who I assumed the man to be. Martha must have been guessing too, “Is that him? Doesn’t look much like his portraits.” 

Shakespeare loved the crowd and they loved him. He danced around the stage, he bowed and he waved and smiled. Like a bonafide celebrity. I guess he was. He grabbed at the hands reaching from him and was just generally loving the crowd. 

“He’s a genius, the genius,” I whispered to Martha. “We get to hear him speak, I bet it will be incredible. He has such a way with words.”

“Oh, shut your big fat mouths!” Shakespeare shouted at the crowd. Everyone in the crowd laughed. 

“You’ve got excellent taste, I’ll give you that. Oh, that’s a wig.” Shakespeare pointed at someone in the crowd and everyone began heckling the poor man. 

“I know what you are all saying, ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’, that’s a funny ending, isn’t it? It just stops. Will the boys get the girls? Well, don’t get your hose in a tangle. You’ll find out soon enough.”

The crowd began shouting, “When?’

“Yeah, yeah. All in good time. You don’t rush a genius.” Shakespeare gave a mock bow but he must have come up too quickly because he almost fell over. “When? Tomorrow night.”

I saw the actors on stage look at each other shocked. Interesting. 

_ “Is he talking about Love Labor’s Won? The lost play?”  _ Uhh, looks like it.

“The premier of my brand-new play, a sequel, no less. And I call it Love’s Labor’s Won.” The crowd went crazy at Shakespeare's words. 

“ _ This is getting interesting.”  _ You didn’t just bring us here for fun, did you, Sister? “ _ Where would be the fun in that?” _ I shook my head in dismay. 

A few minutes as we were walking out, Martha began questioning me. “I’m not an expert in Shakespeare but I have never heard of Love’s LAbor” Won.”

“Yeah, you wouldn’t have. It’s the lost play, there are only rumors that it exists. It's on lists but no one’s ever seen it. One of the lasting mysteries of ol’ Will.” 

“This would be a bad moment to suggest we record it and sell it back home, right?” Martha was imaginative. I just looked at her with my eyebrow raised. “Yeah, bad idea.”

“ _ Hahaha”  _ The Old Girl laughed in my head. 

“How come it disappeared in the first place?’ Martha asked as we fought our way through the exiting crowd. 

“Well, I don’t know. I think that is why the TARDIS choose to bring us here. To figure out the mystery. If you’re up for it?” She nodded enthusiastically at my offer. 

\------------------------

We found Shakespeare at a pub called The Elephant, surrounded by a bunch of his friends and actors. He was flirting with a barmaid as we barged in the room. 

I knocked on the door and entered without waiting for an answer. “Hello, we aren’t interrupting, are we. Mr. Shakespeare, my friend, and I are such fans.” Martha nodding her head behind me.

His friends got up to lead us away but Shakespeare cut them off. “Hey, nonny, nonny. Sit right down here next to me you two lovely ladies.” He turned to the men, “Get working on the costumes men. Off you go.” He waved them off. 

The barmaid continuing to get the men out. “Come on lads. I think our William’s got himself a few new muses.” The men and the barmaid all made themself scarce. 

“Sweet ladies, such unusual clothes, so fitted.” Shakespeare smiled at both of us as we sat down at the table. Martha was vibrating with excitement, I was less than enthused. 

Martha then began to say a bunch of nonsense old English words. I had to bite my lip to not laugh. Shakespeare looked very confused. I cleared my throat and got her attention. 

“No, no. don’t do that.” I pulled out the psychic paper and introduced ourselves. “I am the Lady Rose Wolf and this is my companion Miss Martha Jones.”

“Interesting, my lady. That bit of paper, it’s blank.” Shakespeare said unimpressed. 

_ “Oh, he is a true genius.”  _ I would say so. 

“I say, that proves it. You are a genius, really.” I let my hand hang for a moment. Martha turned her neck to look at the paper. 

“No, it says right there ‘Lady Rose Wolf and Miss Jones’. It says so.” Martha reached out and pointed to the words that she could see. 

“I say it’s blank,” Shakespeare said. 

I went to put it away when I noticed that for me as well it was blank. Well, that was new, I used to fall for it. “ _ Us together is a whole level of genius.”  _ Oh, I should have thought of that. 

“Uhh... It is actually blank, it's called psychic paper. Put on the list of things I need to explain more. Ok, got to start from scratch.”

“Psychic? I never heard that word before and words are my trade. Who are you, two beautiful ladies? One an alabaster beauty and another delicious blackamoor lady?” Shakespeare gave us what I presume was his swoon face. 

“What did you say?” Martha was only slightly put off by his comments. 

“Whoops. Isn’t that a word we use nowadays?” Shakespear then began listing off other terms for black people, none seemed to impress Martha. 

I cut in before it could get worse, “Ok, that's enough of that.’ i turned to Martha, “It's a product of the times.” I turned back to Shakespear, “Martha and I are from a far off land called Freedonia. Well she is, I haven’t lived there for years.” 

We were interrupted by a heavyset man coming in and verbally attacking Shakespear. “Excuse me, hold hard a moment. This is abominable behavior. A new play without warning. I demand to see a script, Mr. Shakespeare. As Master of the Revels, every new script must be registered at my office and examined by me before it can be performed.”

Shakespeare didn’t seem bothered. “Tomorrow morning, first thing, I’ll send it round.”

The man didn’t like that, “I don’t work to your schedule, you work to mine. The script, now!”

“I can’t.” Now, Will seemed to be getting a little annoyed. 

“Then tomorrow’s performance is canceled.” The man said. “I’m returning to my office for a banning order. If it’s the last thing I do, Love’s Labor’s won will never be played.” He hurried down the stairs and out of sight. 

Martha and Shakespeare both took a long drink of the beer in front of them, I left mine untouched. Who knows if it affects alien babies the same way it does humans, best be safe.

“Well, that’s it then. Mystery solved. That’s Love’s Labor’s Won over and done with. I was kinda hoping for something a bit more mysterious, you know.” Martha said. 

All of a sudden there was a loud grunt of pain coming from outside the window followed by a woman's scream. The three of us were quick to jump to our feet and race outside to find out what was happening. We got outside to see the Master of Revels choking on a frothy white substance. 

“It’s that Lynley bloke,” Martha said as we watched helplessly. 

“What’s wrong with him?” I asked out loud.

“We need a doctor,” Shakespeare said behind us. 

“I’m close enough,” Martha ran forward to help and I went to see if I could help her at all. The man then let out one more burst of liquid and keeled over. We weren’t strong enough to hold him up and fell to the ground with him. Martha began to do CPR but it was too late for the Master of the Revels. 

“ _ Something is much more amiss than we previously thought, Sister.”  _ I agree it seems as if he drowned on dry land. 

I stopped Martha from the useless CPR, it wasn’t doing anything. “It’s as if he died from nothing. Drowning on dry land, an invisible blow to the heart.”

“What do we do, Rose?” Martha asked.

“ _ You must clear the crowd. Cause of death an Imbalance of the Humours.” _

I jumped up and turned to the barmaid. “Good mistress, this poor fellow has died from a sudden imbalance of the humours. A natural, if unfortunate demise. Call the constable, have him taken away.”

“Yes, mama.” I turned away from her and back to Martha. 

“Why are you telling them that?” Martha asked. 

“These people still have one foot in the dark ages. If I tell them the truth, we could start a witch hunt. They’ll think it's witchcraft.”

“Okay, that makes sense. What was it then?” Martha asked. 

“My best guess, witchcraft,” I said low enough that only Martha heard me. 

Martha, Shakespeare, and I only waited near the body long enough for the constables to arrive. I nodded at Shakespeare to speak with them and he did. Confirming all we had seen and what I had claimed as the cause of death. It sucked sometimes to be a woman where women are seen as lesser. After that, the three of us made our way back up into Shakespeare’s room in the pub. It was silent as we walked in, Shakespeare affected the most out of us. The Barmaid followed us up. 

“I’ve got you two a room, Lady Rose. I only have one open, you’ll have to share. It’s just across the landing.” She gestured to the room before walking off. 

“Poor Lynley. So many strange events. Not least of all a woman from this land called Freedonia that claims to be a doctor.” Shakespeare said. 

“Where we come from women can be whatever they want to be.” Martha rebuffed him. 

“And you Lady Rose, you look very young but yet your eyes hold the knowledge of the world in them. What has happened to you lovely lady?” Shakespeare asked again. 

_ My entire family wiped out in the blink of an eye. Left alone with only my late husband's legacy to fulfill.  _ I didn’t say that to Will though. 

“I read a lot.”

“A trite reply, yeah? That’s what I do.” he chuckled. Then he looked back to Martha, “And you, you look at her like you can’t believe she’s real. You are as puzzled by her as I am.”

Martha didn’t answer him but instead said, “I think it’s time for goodnight.” She walked out of the room and towards ours for the night.

Shakespeare looked back at his desk, the incomplete play sitting there. “I must work, I have a play to complete. I’ll leave my questions for tomorrow where I am sure to get answers. Figure out this constant play of yours.” 

I made my way out of the room but turned back at the last moment. “All the world’s a stage.”

Shakespeare looked impressed, “Hmm I might use that. Good night Lady Rose Wolf.”

“Nighty-night Ol’ Shakespeare.” I walked off towards my shared room with Martha. 

I walked in to find her exploring the room with a candle. She was looking in the closet and around the whole place. 

“Not exactly five stars is it?”

I looked around the room, it wasn’t half bad. I remember staying in jail cells worse than this with the doctor because he pissed some king or other off. “Oh, it’ll do. I’ve seen worse and stayed worse.”

“I haven’t even got a toothbrush,” Martha said. 

“ _ Check your pockets. There should be something in there.”  _ Ohh you have to be joking with me. It’s a tight leather jacket. “ _ Bigger on the inside isn’t just a timelord trick.”  _ Blimey, that’s cool. 

I reached inside and felt the incredible space possible in my pockets. A little bit of feeling around and I found two toothbrushes, one for each of us. I wiped her out and handed it to her. 

“Contains Venusian spearmint.” She took it with a look of amazement on her face. “Are we going to share the bed or are you going back to the TARDIS?”

“I’ll stay if you don’t mind sharing,” I shrugged my jacket off and laid down on the bed. 

“No, not at all. So, magic and stuff? That’s real. Like Harry Potter.” She joined me on the bed. 

“Ohh wait until you read the 7th book. My husband and I cried.” I smiled at the memory. 

“But, is it real though, witches, black magic, and all that. It’s real!” 

“Oh, no. At least not in the way you are thinking. There are things that can be perceived as magic. But nothing like a wave a wand and say a fancy word to get something out of it. Mostly it’s just power, energy, even, showing itself in different ways.”

“Oh, that would have been cool. Well, I am new to all this stuff so I might require a few more explanations. And the one you have been promising me.” Martha waved her hands up in the air for a moment. 

“I know, and I will explain everything. It’s just hard and it’s a lot, thank you for being patient. We need to figure out what this could be, what could it be,” I said. 

“I have absolutely no idea, you’re the one with more experience,” Martha said, trying to be helpful. 

“My husband would know. He would have figured it out, I just got to think it through. Good night, we will have to be up early in the morning.” 

“Good night Rose,” Marth turned and blew the candle out that rested on the bedside table, encasing the room in darkness. 

_ “It could be psychic energy but a human can’t channel that. It would be too much for them without some kind of generator the size of Taunton. You would have seen that though. We must be missing something.”  _ I agree but what? What is it that we are missing?  _ I don’t know, maybe the pieces will fall together tomorrow. Get some sleep my wolf. I do some scans to see what I can find. _

I let out a quiet sigh, careful not to disturb Martha. She had fallen asleep almost instantly. She had gone to the moon this morning, I’d be tired if I hadn’t had my nap before. I closed my eyes and tried to get some rest. 

\--------------------------

I laid with my eyes closed but not asleep, I was restless but I refused to disturb Martha. She needed some sleep after such an action-packed day. My mind alight with all the possibilities of what could be going wrong here but none of them sticking or making much sense. Sister had been quiet but I could feel her in the back of my mind, calculating, scanning. As perplexed as me. As we were, we are two sides of the same coin now, right?

Suddenly, a scream broke through the quiet night. I was up and out of the room before Martha even opened her eyes. I raced across the landing into Shakespeare's room. The older barmaid was lying still on the floor and Shakespear was looking around confused, awoken at his desk by the scream. I ducked down to check on the barmaid but I knew before I felt for her pulse it was too late. Martha rushed past me and looked out the open window behind Shakespear; the man himself still confused. 

“Her heart stopped. She was scared to death.” I looked up at Martha by the window and she was staring out the window in shock. I raced up next to her. 

“What’d you see?” I asked as I looked around outside. 

“A witch.” 

I turned and stared at her in silence, my eyes wide. 

“ _ Well, you have to admit. This is getting interesting.”  _ That is not helpful, Sister. “ _ Sorry?” _ I didn’t respond to her mocking apology. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave some love in the form of kudos, comments, and bookmarks!


	11. Witches, Really?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finishing up Shakespeare and leaves us wondering about Queen Elizabeth. We also are starting to get a feel for Rose's new style of saving the universe, figuring out how to work well without the Doctor, and how the TARDIS comes to help her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave some love in the form of comments, kudos, and bookmarks!

**Chapter 11**

**Rose**

**Witches, Really?**

Early the next morning after the constable had taken away the barmaid, we sat in Shakespears rooms. He was stricken by grief, confused by what could possibly have killed her. 

“Oh, sweet Dolly Bailey. She sat out 3 bouts of the plague in this place, we all ran like rats. But what could have scared her so? She had such an enormous spirit.” Will paced around, eventually collapsing in his chair. 

“Rage, rage, against the dying of the light.” I quoted Dylan Thomas with my chin in my hands; Martha silent next to me.

Will looked intrigued. “I might use that,” He pointed at me. 

“You can’t, it’s somebody else’s.”

“But the thing is, Lynley drowned on dry land. Dolly died of fright, and they were both connected to you.” She looked at Shakespear. 

“You’re accusing me?” Will sounded affronted. I stayed silent and let them volley ideas back and forth. 

“No, but I saw a witch big as you like, flying, cackling away and you have written about witches,” Martha said. I opened my mouth too late to stop her. 

“I have? When was that?” William looked confused.

“Uhh, not quite...not quite yet..” I said softly to Martha. The old girl giggling in the back of my head. 

‘You know, ladies. Peter Streete spoke of witches.” Will said, thankfully ignoring the tidbit of future information. 

“Peter Streete, who’s Peter Streete?” Martha asked before I even could. 

“Our builder. He sketched the plans for The Globe.”

“ _ The architect of the Globe Theater. That could definitely lead somewhere.” _

“The architect? Hold on, the architect! The architect! The Globe! Come On!” I jumped out of my chair and raced away. I didn’t wait to see if Martha and William were following me, I knew they would. 

\-----------------------

We stood in the center of the empty Globe Theater and I began verbalizing my thoughts. “Columns there, right, and 14 sides. I’ve always wondered but I’ve never asked. Tell me, Will, why 14 sides?” I turned to see him and Martha standing on the stage watching me. 

“It was the shape Peter Streete thought best, that’s all. He said it carried the sound well.” He looked unimpressed at my line of questions but answered all of them faithfully. 

“14? Why does that ring a bell? 14?” Something, there was something. I could feel it somewhere in my brain, my newly amassed knowledge. 

“There are 14 lines in a sonnet,” Matha offered up.

“That’s true, good point. Words and shapes following the same design. 14 lines, 14 sides, 14 facets… oh my head.” I ran my hands through my blonde hair. “Tetradecagon. Think, think, think!”

“ _ Words, letters, numbers, and lines. Where is the connection?”  _ That’s what I am trying to figure out, Sister. Do you got anything? 

“This is just a theater!” Will was getting annoyed, he didn’t see where this was going. Not that I did either though, I wasn’t going to tell him that.

“Nothing is ever just something William. Theaters are magic, you should know. You stand on this stage, say the right words with the right emphasis at the right time. Oh, you can make a man weep or cry with joy. You change people’s minds with just the right words in this place.” A light bulb went off in a tiny recess of my mind. 

“And if you exaggerate that….” I trailed off. 

“It’s like your police box. Small wooden box with all that power inside.” Martha pipped up, excited at the very prospect of magical power. 

_ ‘I really like her.” _ I ignored the old girl. 

“Oh! Oh, Miss Martha Jones, I like you. Tell you what Peter Streete would know. Can I talk to him?” I turned to Will’s response.

“You won’t get an answer. A month after finishing this place, he lost his mind.” 

“Why, what happened?” Martha asked.

“He started raving about witches, hearing voices, babbling. His mind was addled.” He seemed unbothered by his friend had gone mad. 

“Where is he now?” I asked, looking up at him. 

“Bedlam.”

_ “Oh, that’s just wonderful.” _

“What’s Bedlam?” Martha asked.

“Bethlem hospital, the madhouse,” Shakespear explained.

“We gotta go there, right now. Come on!” Once again I turned to run out, this time William shouting after me and Martha. 

“Wait, I’m coming with you. I want to witness this at first hand.” He waved some papers around in his hands but I was already exiting The Globe, ignoring the two men walking in. “Ralph! The last scene, as promised.” He kept speaking but I was already out of hearing distance. 

\-------------------------

We raced down an alleyway on the way towards Bedlam and Peter Streete and hopefully answers. I was slightly ahead of them, William questioned as we raced along. 

“So, tell me of Freedonia, where women can be doctors, writers, actors,” Shakespeare asked Martha. 

“This country is ruled by a woman,” Martha said, staring out slow. 

“Ah, she’s royal, that’s god’s business. Though you are royal beauty. You as well Lady Rose.” He said to both of us. I rolled my eyes but kept moving, but Martha came to a stop.

“Whoa, nelly! I know for a fact you’ve got a wife in the country.” Martha said loudly. 

“But Martha, this is town,” Shakespear said as if it made all the sense in the world.

I turned around and walked back toward them. “Come on, we can all have a good flirt later!”

“Is that a promise, Lady Rose?” William gave me a sultry look. 

“I have a husband,” I said quickly, unimpressed. 

“He can come along,” William said without missing a beat. 

Martha giggled into her hand and the Old Girl laughed in my head. 

“Oh, 57 academics just punched the air. Now, move!” I said as I turned away and kept moving down the alleyway. 

\-----------------

The jail master leads us down the dark, grimy, and disturbed hallway of the madhouse. Different patients reached out of the cages but we kept out of their reach. Some of the begged and some of them screamed, I did my best to tune it out and saw Martha doing the same.

“Does my Lord Shakespear wish some entertainment while he waits?” The jailer asked as he leads us down the hallway. He deferred to the man of the group; I have to bite my tongue to not speak up. “I can whip these madmen They’ll put on a good show for you. Bandog and bedlam.”

William looked at me quickly before answering the jailer. “No, I don’t.”

“Well, wait here, my lord and guests, while I, uh...make him decent for the ladies.” The jailer turned down a small alcove and left us standing there. 

Will turned to me, “Sorry, I..uh know this is your escapade. I can tell him that you are in charge here.”

I waved him off, “No, it’s no problem, it’s not a product of location and time. Just let me ask the questions.” He nodded and left it at that. 

Martha spoke up, “So this is what you guys call a hospital, yeah? Where the patients are whipped to entertain the gentry? And you put your friend in here?” I could hear the disdain in her voice as she verbally attacked William. 

“Oh, and it’s all so different in Freedonia.” William shot back.

“But you’re clever! Do you honestly think this place is any good?” She was getting upset. 

“I’ve been mad. I’ve lost my mind. Fear of this place set me right again. Serves its purpose.”

“ _ The loss of his son, Hamnet.”  _ Not Hamlet? “ _ No, a common mistake.” _

“Mad in what way?” Martha asked disbelievingly. 

“When he lost his son,” I added from my place leaning on the cell bars.

“My only boy. The black death took him. I wasn’t even there.” Anger laced his voice, whether it was at the plague or himself I couldn’t tell. 

“I didn’t know, I’m sorry.” He didn't pay her much attention and kept going. 

“Made me question everything. The futility of the fleeting existence, to be or not to be.” He paused a look of amazement in his eyes. “Oh, that’s quite good.”

“You should write that down.” I kept my face blank at the writing of one of his most famous lines. 

“Hmm, maybe not. A bit pretentious?” I barely reacted, I knew what it would become and wasn’t too concerned. 

The jailer came back, “This way, my lord.” He waved us farther down the hallway. We slowly began walking down, William leading the way after a nod from me. We enter the jail cell to see Peter Streete sitting on his cot covered in threadbare clothing. He kept wringing his hands and kept his head down low. 

“They can be dangerous, my lord. Don’t know their own strength.” The jailer said to Will. 

I finally couldn’t take it anymore and speak up from behind William. “I think it helps if you don’t whip them. Now, get out!” William stepped out of the way and let me yell at the jailer. The jailer looked at me funny before leaving the jail cell and going down the hall. 

I stepped up to Peter, giving him space in case he was claustrophobic. Besides I didn’t want a madman close enough that he could hurt my growing child. “Peter? Peter Streete.”

William spoke up from behind me. “He’s the same as he was. You’ll get nothing out of him.”

I moved closer to Peter and put my hand on his shoulder. “Peter?” His head shot up, his eyes wide, wild.

_ “Let me look at him. Place your fingers on his temples. I might be able to sift through the madness.”  _ I did as she said. 

“Peter, I am Lady Wolf. Go into the past, one year ago. Let your mind go back, Back to when everything was fine and shiny.” I spoke slowly, the words coming to me from the Old Girl. 

Peter took in a shuttering breath. I kept talking, my eyes locked on his. “Everything that happened in this year since happened to somebody else. It’s just a story, a winter’s tale. Just let it go, that’s it.” He started to lean over, down to lay on the cot and I let him, pulling my fingers away from his head. 

He let out another gasping breath. 

“Tell me the story, Peter.” I stood above him, watching him. The Old Girl watching him through me. “Tell me about the witches.”

Peter began to tell his story. “Witches spoke to Peter. In the night, they whispered, they whispered…” He began to scratched at his head but stopped before I could intervene. “Got Peter to build the Globe to their design, their design! The 14 walls. Always 14. They snapped poor Peter’s wits.”

“Well, where did Peter see the witches? Where in the city?” I asked him. He started to gasp more and more. “Peter, tell me! You’ve got to tell me. Where are they?”

Peter looked up and clearly said, “All Hallows Street.”

_ “Behind you!” _

Before I could turn to see, a raspy voice spoke from over my shoulder. “Too many words!” I jumped back and away from the literal witch. Peter began to tremble and panic more. 

“What the hell?” Martha said as she stepped back further. 

“Just one touch of the heart.” the Witch said as she slowly placed her finger on Peter’s chest. 

“No,” I screamed but I was too late. Peter and the Witch began to scream before peter was abruptly cut off. 

“A witch! I’m seeing a witch!” Shakespeare said loudly, excited.

“Now, who will be next, hmm? Just one touch.” The witch cried. “Oh, I’ll stop your frantic hearts. Poor fragile mortals.”

Martha freaked out behind and began screaming for the jailer. “Let us out! Let us out! There is a witch!”

I didn’t take my eyes off the witch but spoke to her, “Well, that’s not going to work. The whole building’s shouting that.”

“And who would die first, hmm?” The witch said. 

I took a step forward towards her. “Well, if you are looking for volunteers.” I needed to buy some time, I needed to keep her talking so I could figure out what she was. 

“No, Rose! Don’t,” Martha screamed from the jail door. I ignored her. 

“Rose, can you stop her?” William said as he stared as well. 

The witch cackled, “No mortal has power over me!”

“No, but there is power in words. If I can find the right one. If I can just know you…”

“None on Earth has knowledge of us.” The witch said confidently.

_ “That doesn’t apply to us.”  _

“Well, it’s a good thing I’m here. Now, think, what could you be?”

“ _ Humanoid, female, who uses shapes and words to channel energy...oh, 14!” _

_ “ _ That’s it, 14!” I shouted, shocking the witch back. She looked concerned but I just carried on. “The 14 stars of the Rexel planetary configuration! Creature, I name you. Carrionite!” 

The witch gave off an awful shriek before she burst into a golden light and disappeared. After a moment, the light dimmed and the Witch was gone. I slowly took a step back and relax out my adopted fighting stance. Martha and William relaxing behind me. 

“What did you do?” Martha asked. 

“I named her. The power of a name. That’s old magic.” I explained. 

“But there is no such thing as magic,” Martha said confused.

“Well, it’s just a different sort of science. You lot. You choose mathematics. Given the right string of numbers, the right equation, you can split the atom. The Carrionites use words instead.”

“Use them for what?” Will spoke up. 

“The end of the world.” 

_ “Looks like we have some work to do here.”  _ Like you didn’t know that already. 

I turned away from William and Martha to make our way out of the jail cell. Peter Streete lying prone behind us. Will and Martha slowly followed behind me. 

I heard Will whisper something to Martha behind me but couldn’t make it out. I did hear her response though. 

“Just leave it alone, it’s a thing about her.” She hissed. I was only slightly curious about what she said but I had more important Witches to deal with. 

\-----------------------

Once back at the Donkey Inn, Martha and I watched as Will got cleaned up for the play. As he did this, I explained what I knew about the Carrionites. 

“The Carrionites disappeared way back at the dawn of the universe. Nobody was sure if they were real or legend.” I said as I sat in one of the chairs in his chambers, it had been a long day and I was beginning to get exhausted. It took all of my self-control not to rub my belly and bring attention to my pregnancy. 

“Well, I’m going for real,” William said as he dried his freshly washed face. 

“But what do they want?” Martha questioned.

“A new empire on Earth is always a good guess. A world of bones and blood and witchcraft.” 

“ _ That’s probably a bit of an understatement.” _

“But how?” Martha said.

I nodded my head towards William Shakespeare. “I’m looking at the man with the words. The most renowned wordsmith of Earth.”

He looked confused, “Me? But I’ve done nothing.”

“Hold on, though. What were you doing last night when that Carrionite was in the room?” Martha asked. 

“I was finishing the play”

“ _ Uh oh.”  _ Well, that is certainly helpful.

“What happens on the last page?” I asked the wordsmith.

“The boys get the girls, they have a bit of a dance. It’s all as funny and thought-provoking as usual. Except for those last few lines. Funny thing is, I don’t actually remember writing them.” As he spoke, he slowly realized that he may very well be involved in the Carrionite plan.

“That’s it! They used you. They gave you the final words.” 

“ _ Like a spell, like a code.” _

“Love’s Labour’s Won. It’s a weapon!” I shouted, jumping up from the chair I was in. “The right combination of words, spoken in the right place with the shape of the globe as an energy converter! They play is the thing!” I went to turn away before turning back to William. “And yes, you can have that. I need a map!”

Once Will found me a map, I rolled it out and searched the drawing. What was it that Peter Streete had said?  _ “All Hallows street.”  _ Oh, thank you, Sister. 

One quick sweep of the map and I found it. “All Hallows street, there it is. Martha, we’ll track them down. Will, you get to the globe. Whatever you do, stop the play!”

“I’ll do it. All these years, I’ve been the cleverest man around. Next to you, My Lady Rose, I know nothing. I had no idea women could be as smart as a man, or smarter.”

“That’s not a compliment,” Martha edged in. I waved her off, I would take it. 

“Good luck, My lady, Miss Martha.” He nodded to both of us and then we turned around and ran out of the room. 

Martha shouting behind her, “Good luck Shakespeare!”

“Once more into the breach!” I added in.

“I like that! Wait! That’s one of my lines!” He called after us, I didn’t stay to respond. 

\------------------

“All-hallows street. That’s not at all poetic for a witches hideout.” I said as Martha and I walked down the street. “But, which house?”

“Thing is, though, am I missing something here? The world didn’t end in 1599, it just didn’t. Look at me, I’m living proof.” Martha asked. 

“ _ That’s where we come in. It’s quite confusing though, Infinite Temporal Flux.”  _ I barely know the answer to it, It never made sense before when he explained it to me. “ _ Try that movie Back to the Future. That might help her understand.” _

_ “ _ You remember the movie Back to the Future? It’s kinda like that. Marth McFly goes back and changes history only to start fading away.”

“Oh my god, am I going to fade away?” Martha interrupted me.

“If we don’t fix this, yes. You and the entire future of the human race. Which may or may not include me, that is concerning. It ends right now, in 1599, if we don’t stop it.” Martha nodded in acknowledgment. “But which house is the witch’s house?” 

Before we could even begin to look around, the door of the house we stood in front of creaked open unhelped. 

“Think we found it,” I said to Martha as we both started at that the creepy door. I made my way inside, better get this over with. Martha followed only slightly reluctantly. 

A young redhead woman paced the room, her black cloak billowing out behind her. The room was filled with candles, dusty books, a large cauldron, and other witchy artifacts. They were really selling this witch idea. She stopped pacing when she noticed us enter the room. 

“I take it we were expected,” I said to her. 

“Oh, yes. I knew you would come.” She said. 

“Right then, it’s my turn.” Martha patted my shoulder and stepped in front of me. “I know how to do this.” She pointed at the redhead, “I name thee, Carrionite!”

The witch gave a fake gasp of fear but nothing happened.

“What did I do wrong? Was it the finger?” Martha turned to look at me. 

“Power of a name works only once. Observe.” The Witch said, “I gaze upon this bag of bones, and now I name thee, Martha Jones.”

Martha seized up and fell backward. I just barely managed to catch her and slow her fall to the ground. Her eyes rolled back into her head. 

“What have you done?” I shouted at the witch as I checked Martha over. 

“ _ She should be fine, but we must take care of this quickly.” _

“Only sleeping, alas.” the Witch said nonchalantly as she checked her nails. “It’s curious, her name has less impact. She is somehow out of her time. And as for you, Lady Wolf.” She pointed her finger at me but nothing happened. I stared at her, unblinking. 

“Fascinating, The name has no effect. What kind of Lady has a name with no power? Oh, but look, I see something. There is still one word with a power that aches.” She kept swaying back and forth as she searched for something that would affect me. 

“The naming thing won’t work on me,” I told her, undeterred. 

“But, your heart is cold with pain, with loss. We don’t want your heart to stop, somebody better call...the Doctor.”

“ _ Bad move, Witch.” _

“That was a mistake, you shouldn’t have said that. Cause that name keeps me fighting, that name ignites a fire in my blood.” I walked toward her, anger seeping off of me. “The Carrionites vanished. Where did you go?” I stood tall, looking down on the woman, I was just taller than her in my heeled boots. 

“The Eternals found the right word to banish us into deep darkness.” She turned around and away from me before stepping up on to a risen level in the room. She tried to gain her height back. 

_ “The Eternals, another word for The Time Lords.”  _ Huh, figures. 

“Then how did you escape?” 

“New words. New and glittering. From a mind like no other.” She said softly, respecting the words and the power they held. 

“Shakespeare.” It wasn’t a question. 

“His son perished.” She looked down at the cauldron, it was bubbling lightly. Shakespeare appeared in the liquid like it was a TV. It must have been an old image, his features frozen in grief. ‘The grief of a genius. Grief without measure. Madness enough to allow us entrance.” I stayed silent as she told her tale, villains did love to give exposition, to tell the brilliance of their plans. 

“How many of you?” I asked when she paused. 

“Just the three.”

“ _ One more than we have seen.” _

“But the play tonight shall restore the rest. Then the human race will be purged as a pestilence. And from this world, we will lead the universe back into the old ways of blood and magic.” She said.

“Sounds like you have a busy schedule. But first, you’ve got to get past me.” I stepped closer to her and got in her space. It didn’t make her falter at all. 

“Oh, that should be fun. You do have a beautiful form,” She ran her hands down my face. I guess it was supposed to be intriguing, attracting, it wasn’t. And I had previously had crushes on girl, not that they had ever gone anywhere. 

“Yeah, sorry. That type of magic won’t work on me.” I said as she ran her hands down my arms. 

“Oh, we’ll see.” All of a sudden there was the snip of scissors behind my ear. She quickly stepped back holding a tiny pair of scissors and a small lock of my hair. 

“What was that? Why did you do that?” I questioned as I reached from my hair, I could feel the cut part, she had botched up my haircut. Rude!

“Souvenir.” She waved the lock of hair in front of her face before flinging her arms out and flying backward out of the window. 

“Well, give it back!” I raced towards her but she hovered outside the window and stared at me from there. “Oh come on! That’s just cheating!”

“Behold, Wolf. Humans are noting to Carrionites but puppets.” She pulled out a little voodoo doll from her clock and began wrapping my hair around it. 

“ _ Careful, she can hurt you with that. It’s not a voodoo doll, it’s a DNA replication module.”  _ Really, I never would have guessed. 

“Now you might call that magic, I’d call that a DNA replication module.” Wow, what is my life now, that I am doing this, here, now?

“What use is your science now?” With that she stabbed the little scissors into the voodoo doll, I felt the stabbing pressure in my chest instantaneously. I called out in pain and began to crumble down. The witch flew away cackling. 

Martha woke up from her small coma and raced to me. “Oh, my god, Rose! The Baby!” Thankfully she whispered shouted the last part. I rolled onto my back still in pain but it was lessening. 

“Owww…” My hands flew to my stomach. 

“ _ The child is ok, they are unharmed.”  _ She said quickly in my head.

“They are ok, it just hurts a but nothing will hurt the child,” I said allowed to comfort Martha. “Here, help me up.” I gave her my hand and she helped pull me up. 

“What happened? What did I miss?’ She questioned as she stood next to me. 

“No time. I’ll explain later, we got to go. We have to get to the Globe!” I raced out of the room, Martha following quickly. 

\--------------------

As we raced towards the Globe, a huge bright orange light lit above the theater. The wind started blowing harder and faster outside the globe. The doomsday preacher from before appeared out of nowhere and began screaming about how he was right. We paid him little attention as we came up short and stared at The Globe. 

I ran ahead, “Stage door!” Martha followed close behind. Lightning began crackling above the theater. Quickly followed by more screams from inside. 

Once inside, we came upon Will rubbing his head, sitting on a pile of fabric. “Stop the play! That’s all you had to do. Stop the Play!”

“I hit my head.” He said slowly, rubbing what must be a nice bump. 

“Yeah, don’t rub it, you’ll go bald,” I said annoyed, someone screamed from the center of the theater. “I think that’s my cue.” I ran towards the screams. 

Martha, Will, and I entered the stage to hear the witches cackling. The redhead holding a glowing purple globe. The redhead was talking but I couldn’t hear the words, which with these creatures was definitely not a good thing. All of a sudden the purple orb began to let out some red steam, followed by small bat-like creatures. Most likely more Carrionites. 

“ _ We can’t let this happen. It could get horrible quickly.”  _ I didn’t answer her, distracted by the Carrionites. Cackling and screams filled the air as the witches. 

“ _ Get the wordsmith, words are their tool but also their enemy.”  _

_ “ _ Come on, Will, history need you.” I grabbed him from behind me and pulled him up. 

“But what can I do?” He asked flustered. 

“Reverse it! Stop what they are doing!” I held on to him as the wind began blowing harder and harder. 

“How am I supposed to do that?” He screamed over the wind. 

“The shape of the Globe gives the words power, but you’re the wordsmith. The one true genius, the only man clever enough to do it.” 

“But what words? I have none ready.” 

I couldn’t believe my eyes, the sight of the genius before me. “You are William Shakespeare!”

“But these Carrionite phrases, the need such precision.” He looked at me, lost. 

“Trust yourself. When you’re locked away in your room, the words just come out like magic. Right? Words of the right sound, the right shape, the right rhythm, words that last forever! That’s what you do, Will. You choose perfect words. Do it! Improvise!” I stepped back from the genius and let him weave his magic. 

“Close up this din of grateful, dire decay, decomposition of your witches’ plot! You thieve my brains, consider me your toy, my lovely Lady Wolf tells me I am not!” He screamed into the portal. 

The witches began to scream, afraid that we could beat him. 

“Foul Carrionite specters, cease your show, between the points…” He trailed off and looked at me. “ 7-6-1-3-9-0!” He repeated after I shouted the reverse of the original spell. “Banished like a tinker’s cuss, I say to thee…” He trailed off again and turned back to Martha and me. 

I drew a blank and turned to Martha. She searched for something to say. 

“Expelliarmus!” She shouted. I turned back towards Will and repeated the spell. He screamed the Harry Potter spell into the portal. The portal began to shrink and the witches shrieking began to turn from joyful to disappear. 

“The deep darkness!” One of the witches screamed. “They are consumed!” 

The witches got sucked up into the portal and suddenly the stage doors opened and the copies of the play began flying towards the closing portal. The Witches and Love’s Labour’s Won sucked up into nothingness. 

“Love’s Labour’s Won, there it goes,” I said as it streamed past us. 

The witches screaming became louder as the wind began to soften. Then as suddenly as it came, it was gone. The audience gasping in shock and lingering fear. Suddenly someone began clapping. Slowly the entire crowd took it up and before I knew the screams turned to roaring applause. 

I ran off the stage and up to the private box the witches had sat. There sitting on the bench was the glowing purple orb. Inside the orb, I could see the witches clawing at their refound cage. 

“ _ Take it with us, we shall put it in the attic.”  _ How much stuff is in the attic?  _ “All kinds of things. Things he has collected after the years.  _ Well, that could be an interesting investigation.  _ That depends on your definition of interesting.  _

I turned around and walked out of the box. Back down to the stage and my new friends. Huh, I was friends with William Shakespeare. 

_ “You are going to make a lot of new friends. Many of them will be famous, the famous always seem to draw negative attention that needs our help to fix it.” _

\---------------

The sun rose early over the theater the next day. We were still at the theater, cleaning up the mess the witches had leftover. Thankfully the crowd had passed it off as special effects and no one seemed to really rhino witches.

I had spent the last 15 minutes exploring the prop supply in the back just for fun, it was either that or listen to Shakespeare try and fail to flirt with Martha. I found an old skull, a neck brace akin to the old Shakespeare’s portraits. I grabbed it, might as well help him reach his ultimate potential. 

“Not bad stuff back there,” I said as the two of them jumped back from each other. “How’s your head, Will?”

“Still aching,” He went to rub it again but Martha smacked his hand down. 

I held the neck brace forward, “Here, I got you this. Neck brace.” I reached and put it on him. Martha gave me s sly smirk. “Wear that for a few days until it’s better. Although it does look rather dashing, might want to keep it.”

“What about the play?” Martha asked. 

“All gone, not a trace,” I answered her. 

“My lost masterpiece,” Shakespeare moaned softly. 

“You could always write it up again.” Martha offered. 

_ “No, don’t do that.”  _

“Yeah, I wouldn’t do that, Will. Words still have power even without the Witches here.” I cautioned. 

“Oh, but I’ve got new ideas. Perhaps it’s time I wrote about fathers and sons, in memory of my boy, my precious Hamnet.” He mused allowed. 

I waited for Matha to say something, and I didn’t have to wait long. 

“Hament?” She said confused. 

“That’s him.” 

“Ham-net?” She clarified. 

“What’s wrong with that?” Shakespeare said affronted it. 

I cut in before she could say more. “Anyway, time for us to leave. Best be back to Freedonia and I have to get this witch’s orb to a nice dusty attic. Where they can scream endlessly. 

“ _ It’s not dusty.”  _ Sorry, darling. 

“You mean travel on through time and space,” Will said looking up at me.

“ _ Oh, he is brilliant.” _

“Yes, yes, that’s exactly what I mean.” I was impressed. 

“You are from another world like the Carrionite’s and Martha here from the future. It’s not that hard to work out.” Martha looked amazed behind William as he spoke. 

“That’s incredible. You are incredible.” I nodded at him. 

“You are as well, My Lady Wolf.” He said to me before turning to Martha. “Martha, let me say goodbye to you with a new verse. A sonnet for my dark lady. Shall I compare thee to a summers’ day? Thou art more lovely, more temperate…” He was interrupted by some of the actors running in, screaming his name. 

“Will!”

“Will!”

“Will! You’ll never believe it. She’s here! She’s turned up!”

“We’re the talk of the town. She heard about last night. She wants us to perform it again.”

“Who?” Martha questioned. 

“Her majesty. She’s here!” The younger actor responded. 

Trumpets began to blow and soon the Queen began walking into the theater, followed by two guards. 

“Oh, Queen Elizabeth I!” I was excited, royalty was always fun to meet. 

“Lady Rose Wolf!” She responded, shocked. 

“Sorry, what?” I questioned confused. 

“My greatest friend and worst enemy!” She screamed. 

“Huh?” This was new.

“ _ What did you do to her?”  _ Nothing, yet.  _ “Well, this will be fun.”  _ Haha, very helpful. 

“Off with her head!” The Queen commanded. 

“Seriously, huh?”

“Nevermind what, time to run,” Martha shouted as she grabbed my hand and pulled me along. “See ya, Will. And, thanks!” 

“Stop that Wolf!” The queen screamed behind me, Will’s laughter following us. 

We ran out of The Globe and out into the streets of England. Luckily the TARDIS wasn’t parked far, the Queen’s guards were fast and gaining on us. 

“Stop! In the name of the Queen!” One of them shouted, we didn’t slow down to respond to him. 

_ “That would defeat the purpose of the running.”  _ Yes, I know. 

“What did you do to upset the Queen, Rose?’ Martha asked as we ran. 

“Don’t know yet. I haven’t even met her properly, that’s time travel for you though. I’m definitely looking forward to finding out though, I have to admit.” The TARDIS doors opened as we neared them and we ran inside, the Queen’s guards taking aim with a bow and arrow. 

“ _ Oh, I hope he is a lousy shot. This is fresh paint.”  _

I ducked inside before I could find out, the doors closing with a snap behind me. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

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	12. Gridlock

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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**Chapter 12**

**Rose**

**Gridlock**

With a pull of the lever, we were entering the vortex and cruising, Martha was still panting from running from the Queen’s guards. I was only slightly winded, guess she needs to build up her stamina. 

“ _ I sure am interested to see what you did to the Queen.”  _ I know, me too. That’ll be fun.

“Now what?” Martha asked as she rested against the pilot’s seat. 

“Well, that’s up to you. I can take you home and you can go back to your party and your life. Or we could keep going, there is so much out there, though I wouldn’t be opposed to a bit of a rest first. I know I promised you an explanation, that’s an option too, nap first on that one too. It’s up to you.” I offered, pointedly keeping my eyes on the monitor though I was looking at nothing. 

“I think that I would like to keep going, Rose. If you want me to stay, I think we can be really good friends if given the opportunity. And I’m not gonna lie, I wouldn’t be opposed to a nap too, its a lot of work saving the world from aliens. But where would I sleep or at least rest?” Martha said excitedly. 

I feel that smile grow on my face, “Oh I’m sure the Old Girl has something for you? Don’t you, love?” I gave a pat to the consul. 

“ _ Obviously…..I’ll bring a bare room next to yours. I’m glad she is going to stay.”  _ Thank you, and me too.

“Here, I’ll show a room and around a bit.” I motioned for her to follow me and turned towards the hallway entrance. “So, this ship is more than just a ship. She is alive and she likes to move rooms around. She is sentient, it’ll take you some time to get used to her but she already likes you, so you should be fine. But you’ll begin to recognize doors. This here is my room,” I pointed to a plain dark brown door. 

I continued, “This is the library and this is the media room,” One large double doorway indicated the library and a bright red door the media room. “This yellow door will be the kitchen and this light blue with be the med-bay. There is a bunch of other rooms, I’ll show you around more later or you can explore, it’s up to you. This plain white door is gonna be yours, you can decorate it however you want, just ask the old girl and she can make it happen for you. Any questions?”

“So many, but I can’t think of a single one right now,” Martha said with wide eyes and she looked at the couple doors in the hall. 

“ _ I’ll help her out if she gets lost.” _ Yes, I know you will and I’ll tell her. 

“That sounds about right, when you think of your questions, just go ahead and ask me. If you get lost, just ask the TARDIS and she will help you, usually by lighting the way, she likes to hum in response but it might take you a few days to understand the different hums. Now, are you ok with a rest period? There isn’t an actual night and day cycle in the TARDIS but she follows the Earth time, so we will enter a night cycle and she’ll start waking us up in about 9 hours, is that ok?” I hoped it was, I was exhausted. 

“Umm, yeah that sounds fine. I’m exhausted too, running from the Queen was a lot after fighting witches and everything else last night.” Martha looked at the door, “Just ask the sentient spaceship, and she will help me?” She said hesitantly. 

‘I know, it’s a lot to take in all at once. I remember I was once in your place. I will ask her to keep the rooms in place for a couple of days to help you. If you need something, feel free to knock on my door. If I’m not in my room, I’ll probably be in the library or the consul room. Tomorrow, we can either go on another adventure, or I can explain or we can do both or neither, alright?” I offered her, trying to hold in my coming yawn.

“Yeah, thanks. That sounds good, Rose, see you in the morning?” She said as she turned towards the plain white door. 

“Night, Martha.” With that I backed into my room, the door opening before I even touched. “See you in the morning.” I closed my door behind me and went to collapse on the bed. I finally let my hands fall to my barely-there bump, after holding back for 3 days it was instantly calming. 

“ _ It’s been a crazy couple of days, but I ran a scan on the baby when you got back and you are doing just fine. Martha is settling in quickly, she will be asleep momentarily, I put some of your sleep clothes from your old room in her room. Go to bed Sister, everything will be ok.”  _

I didn’t even reply or take off my blue leather jacket, I was asleep in seconds, my hand cradling my stomach. 

\------------------

_ "Time to wake up, my Wolf. Martha is beginning to stir and 8t might be better if you are there for her when she wakes up."  _ Ummmmmmm….no. " _ Wake up, Wolf. No arguing with me. _ " Fine…

I rolled up and sat on the edge of the bed with a groan. I tried to stifle a yawn, not very successfully. It was enough for me to get a whiff of myself and I made a face. 

“Time for a shower,” I said aloud. 

“ _ You have time, Martha is doing the same. But I suspect she will want to see you soon and decide what you two shall do today.”  _ I nodded to nothing in particular knowing she would see the gesture. Well, as much as the TARDIS sees anything. 

\-------------------

Freshly showed and dressed in a new clean outfit, I made my way into the kitchen to make a cup of tea and some toast. Sister had told me that Martha would be right behind me so I made enough tea for two but left the second cup in the kettle on the stove. I settled into a seat at the table and picked up the book, I must have left there before all this. An encyclopedia of the different galaxies and the planets in them. Not a complete collection but a good start for me to begin learning about the universe I was charged to protect. 

“Good Morning, Rose, I guess or as close to the morning as we get here,” Martha said from behind me. I didn’t jump having felt her move through the TARDIS with our connection. 

I set the book down and turned around to see her standing awkwardly wearing some of my old clothes. She looked wary as if she didn’t know if she could come in or not yet, I waved her in and got up grab her tea. 

“Morning, Martha. I hoped you slept well, how do you take your tea?” I asked over my shoulder as I poured some into a plain mug. 

“Uhh, 2 sugars and milk. I can get that, you don’t have to make me tea.” I saw her coming up behind me and turned to steer her towards the table. 

“Sit down, I don’t mind making the tea Martha. Do you want any toast or anything? Toast is all I can keep down in the mornings right now.” I asked as I sat back down across from her after setting down her tea. 

“No, I’m not much of a morning eater at all. This tea is good, thank you.” She said as she shipped her tea. 

We fell into an awkward silence after that as we both drank our tea. I took tiny bites of my toast and the crunch of each bite made me wince at the loud noise in the silence. 

After a few moments, even the TARDIS began to get agitated at the silence and she made her feelings clear in my mind. “ _ Rasillion, this is awkward. Will you please say something. If you don’t, I am going to switch off the artificial gravity and send you both spiraling around the kitchen.”  _ You wouldn’t do that.  _ “Try me.”  _ Jesus, fine. 

I didn’t trust her enough to call her bluff and searched for a way to break the silence. “So, what do you want to do today? You’ve got a couple of options: we can go on another adventure, I can tell you my story, I can take you back to earth if you don’t want to stay or if you just want to grab some of your own clothes and whatnot, or I could take you to meet a friend of mine, or we could do nothing. It’s really up to you.” Martha looked up as I started talking and her eyes got wider and wider as I verbally vomited ideas of what to do today.

“Uh, I think maybe an adventure first. I don’t want to force you to tell me when you aren’t ready yet. Where would we go, back to the past again?” She looked nervous and excited at the same time. It was a familiar expression, one I used to wear all the time with the Doctor. 

“Well, I think one trip to the past equals one trip to the future. What do you think about that? I'm sure I can think of a good future destination to take you.” I said, my mind reeling with all the possible places to take you. 

“Yeah, that sounds amazing. Where would we go?” The excitement slowly began to overwhelm the nervousness on Martha’s face. 

“How about I take you to a new planet? Well, not new at the point we will be going to but definitely new to you.” I began imputing coordinates even while I was waiting for her answer, I was pretty confident she was going to say yes. 

“Somewhere new like Mars? Or somewhere else Pluto?” She began bouncing on the edge of her seat. 

“ _ Such a small mind, we’ll need to fix that.”  _ She doesn’t know any better yet, give her a break. 

“Oh, no. We can do so much better than our home’s solar system. I’ve got something great in mind for you.” I made my way around the consul to the lever and grasped it, ready to pull it down and send us spiraling through space and time. 

“Is it like the movies? Outer space cities, tall spires, and stuff? Great big temples and cathedrals? Lots of planets in the sky?” She walked around the consul as she imaged an alien world. She wasn’t very wrong but there was so much out there to see then depicted in the movies. 

I slammed the lever down and sent us going, not that we felt it. I was becoming a much better pilot than my husband.“This place will have some of that. But this place is gonna be great. Year 5000000053. The planet is called New Earth. The second home of mankind. 50,000 light-years from our own homeworld and we are gonna be slap bang in the middle of the 15th New York.” I said with a tight smile on my face, the memories of the Doctors and I’s trip there almost bringing tears to my eyes. 

I grabbed my jacket and shucked it on, not bothering to check to make sure everything was in there, I already knew it was. I tossed Martha her red jacket which she put on over some of my old clothes and we made our way to the door. 

“So technically it called new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new New York,” Martha said behind me. 

My eyes burned at the memory of the Doctor saying the same thing. “ _ Oh Wolf, think of those memories as good things, not things to make you cry. He would be happy that you are moving on, making new memories to try and heal the pain.”  _ That doesn’t make it hurt less. “ _ Yes, I know.” _

“Technically yes, this is one of the most dazzling cities ever built. I loved it the first time I was here.” I opened up the door and we went out excited only to get drenched instantly. 

“Oh, that’s nice! I love being drenched down to my bones.” Martha said as she pulled her jacket tight. 

_ “Oh, apologies. That rain came on fast.”  _ Did it now?  _ “Maybe…..” _

“Oh that’s brisk, come on let’s find some cover,” I said as I urged Martha forward towards an alleyway. We ran through alleyways and past broken and destroyed junk. I was confused, this looked nothing like the beautiful city I had been to before. 

_ “I brought you two here for a reason. Something is wrong, it echos through space and time.”  _ Well, then I guess we better fix it. 

“I’m not gonna lie Rose, this place looks just like regular earth on a regular day,” Martha said as we walked around trying to find some adequate cover. 

“Something is going on here, this isn’t just a trip for fun. The TARDIS never sends us anywhere just for fun.” I spotted a video screen and pulled her over towards it. “Here, let’s see what’s happening on the news today.” I pulled my sonic out of my boot and scanned the screen until it turned on. 

A blond newscaster appeared on screen talking about the traffic. It was a little spotty but still understandable. The newscaster went away and showed a video of traffic flowing, that picture looked just like the time I had been here the first time. 

“There, that’s what I wanted to bring you too. Maybe we are on a different part of the planet.” I said as I turned around looking at what surrounded us. 

“So what, this is the slums or something?” Martha said a little annoyed. 

“Eh, it’s much more interesting down here. Besides down here we get to solve whatever the problem is, and ain’t that fun.” Martha didn’t look very impressed at my words but did give me a nod. 

The rain started to slow to a drizzle before it stopped altogether, and we stepped out from our tiny bit of cover. “Look see, now it’s getting better.” 

“So, you said you’ve been here before? Your husband brought you here?” She asked gently. 

I looked anywhere but at her as I answered. “Uh, yeah. It was a while ago though.” I blinked quickly. I had to get the rainwater out of them, nothing else. 

Martha could see I was getting uncomfortable and dropped the topic. Before we could come up with a new topic of discussion a man opened a vending booth behind us. 

“Oh, you should have said! How long you been standing there? Happy. You want happy. Happy!” He said excitedly, fast. He leaned down to get something and another vendor opened down the way. 

“Customers, customers! We’ve got customers!” The woman shouted another vendor opened next to her. 

“We have business.” The second woman said. 

All the vendors began shouted at us, but they weren’t shouting items. They were shouting emotions. Happy, Anger, Mellow. 

I pivoted on the spot looking at them all. I was beginning to see the problem here. I didn’t give any of the vendors an answer and turned back to Martha. 

_ “I think you might have found it.”  _ Or at least a symptom, nothing is ever as it seems at first glance. “ _ Good, you remember what he taught you.”  _

“Are they selling drugs?” Martha asked confused. 

“I think they are selling moods, emotions.” I kept turning until I saw a woman walk up to one of the vendors. I zeroed in and watched her. 

“What can I get you?” The lady vendor said to her. 

“I want to buy forget.” The shopper said. 

“I’ve got forget, my darling. What strength? How much do you want forgetting?”

“It’s my mother and father. They went on the motorway.” The shopper said. Martha and I inched closer to her, trying to figure out what was happening.

“Oh, that’s a swine. Try this. Forget 43. That’s 2 credits.” The vendor handed her a small patch and the lady paid her quickly. 

I couldn’t hold it in anymore and interrupted. “Sorry, but what happened to your parents?”

She turned to me, “They drove off.” She said. 

“ _ Is that supposed to explain everything, she said it like it was supposed too.”  _ Well, it didn’t. “ _ Yes, I know.” _

“Yeah, and I’m sure they will drive back.” She shook her head at my comment as if it was stupid. 

“Everyone goes to the motorway in the end. I’ve lost them.” Her sadness leaked into her voice. 

“They just went for a drive, I’m sure you could find them.” She didn’t answer me and instead put the patch on her neck, paying no head to my trying to stop her. After a moment the sadness in her face drained away and she looked up at me. 

“I’m sorry, miss, what were you saying?” She asked me.

“Your parents,” I said although I had a feeling it was going to get me anywhere. “Your mother and father. They are on the motorway.”

“Are they? That’s nice. I’m sorry, I won’t keep you any longer, have a good day misses.” She nodded at Martha and me before walking off.

“So, that’s something to look forward to in the future. The human race off their heads on chemicals in 5 billion years, lovely.” Martha said behind me sounding disappointed, I knew where she was coming from so I stayed silent for a moment. 

I turned around to say something to her but before I could a man came out of the fog and grabbed Martha. A woman next to him pointed a gun at me. 

“Sorry, lady. But we really need three, that’s all.” They backed away and I followed trying to convince them to let her go. But my words fell on deaf ears and they pulled her through a door and slammed the door shut. 

It locked behind them, probably be design and I had to sonic it open, the moments it took me costing me precious moments to save her. I caught up to them too late, just in time to see a motor vehicle take off into the air. 

“Martha!” My scream echoed into the empty street. 

“ _ That was a big mistake.”  _

\-------------------

I made my way back to the alleyway with vendors to find that all the shops had closed up. I didn’t care and began pounding on one of the windows. The lady that had sold the Forget opened the window and popped out, unnaturally happy. 

“Thought you’d come back, lady. You want some happy, happy.” She said. A window behind me opened but I paid it no mind in the middle of my investigation. 

“Those people, where did they take her?” 

The man in the window spoke up and I pivoted to face him. “They took her to the motorway.”

“Looked like a carjacking to me,” Happy lady said to me. The vendor next to her opened up and the 2nd woman popped out. 

“I’d give up now, darling. You won’t ever see her again.” The lady said trying to comfort me somehow. 

“Used to be thriving this place, you couldn’t move. But they all go on the motorway in the end.” The man said. 

“He kept on saying three, we need three. What did he mean, three?” I said turning as I looked at all of them. 

“It’s the car-sharing policy, to save fuel. You get special access if you’re carrying three adults.” Happy lady said. 

“ _ I think you need to investigate this motorway, people driving off never to come back. Besides, it might be the only way to find Martha.” _

I didn’t answer her but I let her feel my agreement and continuing my questioning of the vendors. “This motorway, how do I get there?”

Happy lady answered me, “Straight down the alley, down to the end. You cannea miss it.” I started walking the way she’d pointed but she wasn’t finished with me yet. “Tell you what, buy some happy-happy. Then you’ll be smiling, My love.”

My anger boiled to the surface and I couldn’t keep it down any longer. “Tell you lot what, pack up your bags, close down, and get gone.” I began to feel the power coursing through my veins, the light of the TARDIS getting brighter in my head. 

“Why you glowing love?” The second lady asked me, not caring about my threat. I didn’t veer off course of my anger although I was curious about that glowing comment.

Happy lady at least questioned my threat. “Why is that, then?”

“Because as soon as Martha is alive and well, safe again. I’m coming back and this street will be closing. Tonight!” I began to see the glowing of my skin in my peripherals but I ignored it again. I turned away and left to find Martha, not caring about the vendors behind me for the time being. 

\-----------------

I found the doorway, conveniently named Motorway Access. It was locked but I still had my sonic in my boot and within moments it was unlocked. 

“ _ We are going to rescue her and figure out what is wrong with this place, I know it.”  _ Thanks for the vote of confidence but I think you are the only one who believes in me. “ _ Only, for the time being, you are going to come into your own in your role both as protector and mother. I know it.”  _

I pushed the door open, “Into the brink once more,” I said more to myself than the TARDIS. 

I stood on a small platform in what could only be the motorway. There were cars lined up everywhere from the top to the bottom of the large tunnel-like motorway. And just enough car fumes to match the number of cars. Cars honked and I began to cough almost instantly at the fumes. 

The car hovering in front of the platform I was one opened its doors. A man with a face-covering stood in the doorway and shouted at me. “Hey, daft lady! What are you doing standing there? Either get out or get in. Come on!” He waved me forwards and I didn’t hesitate to join him in the car, I could barely breathe through all the fumes. He stepped out of the way and as soon as my feet were in he was closing the door behind me. 

I leaned up against something in the car and coughed, the man saying something that I didn’t catch because of the coughing. A lady in the seat in front turned around and waved an oxygen mask at me. “Here you go,” She said. I didn’t hesitate to pull it to my mouth and breathe deeply. 

“ _ You’ll both be ok, just keep breathing.”  _ Thanks, sister.

“She was just standing there, breathing it in.” The man says as he unwraps his face covering and reveals an orange cat face. “There is a story, goes back to the old days on junction 47, this woman stood in the exhaust fumes for a solid 20 minutes. By the time they found her, her head had swollen to 50 feet.” He said, his accent lilting. 

“Oh, you are making it up.” The woman said. 

“A solid 20 minutes, just think of it.” He said as he moved past me and into one of the seats. “Imagine picking that nose.”

“Oh stop it, that’s disgusting.” The woman swatted him on the shoulder as he sat down. 

“What, it’s not like you never pick your nose.” He said with a smile.

“Oh Bran, we’re moving.” She said as she looked out the window. 

“Right, I’m there. I’m on it.” Bran, apparently, said. He pushed a lever and I felt the car jerk forwards but only for a few seconds before we came to a quick stop again. Honking once again sounded. 

“Twenty yards, we are having a good day,” Bran said. “And who might you be Lady? Very well dressed for a hitchhiker.” 

I pulled the oxygen mask off and gave him a nod of thanks. “Sorry about that, I’m Lady Wolf but you can call me Rose.” 

“Oh, a lady! How nice, my name is Thomas Kincade Brannigan, and this is the bane of my life, the lovely Valerie.” He gestured to her and turned to her. 

“Nice to me you,” She said. 

“Same goes to both of you,” I said before Bran pointed behind me. 

“That’s the rest of the family behind you.” I turned and pulled a curtain back to find a litter of kittens climbing in and out of a basket. All giving off tiny cries and meows. I picked up one of the kittens closest to me and held it close. 

“Hi cutie,” I turned back to Bran and Valerie, “How old are they?”

Valerie answered, “Just two months,” She reached up and petted the one in my arms. I had to admit, having kittens as babies was definitely an interesting type of alien baby. But I was happy with my own brand of alien baby. 

“Pour little souls, they have never felt the ground below their paws.” I looked up at Bran shocked, “Children of the motorway.” 

“ _ Well, that is certainly interesting.”  _ You don’t say.

“I'm sorry, come again, they were born in here? In the car?” I asked shocked

“We couldn’t stop.” Valerie said, “We heard there were jobs going, out in the laundries of fire island. Thought we’d take a chance.” 

“You’ve been driving in the motorway for two months?” I said aghast.

Bran laughed at me, “Do I look like a teenager, Lady Rose? We’ve been driving for twelve years.” 

“ _ And I think we found it.”  _ Duh.

“Sorry, what? Come again?” Even as I register what they were saying, I couldn’t possibly understand it. 

“Yeah, we started out as newlyweds. Feels like just yesterday.” He said sweetly to Valerie. 

“Feels like 12 years to me,” Valerie said back without a beat. 

“Ah, sweetheart. You still love me.” Bran said unfazed as he reached over to give her a kiss on the cheek, she gave a giggle in response. They were completely oblivious to my confused outrage behind them.

“Twelve years? How far did you come? Where did you start?” I couldn’t get the questions out fast enough, I needed answers. 

“Battery Park. It’s five miles back.” Bran said as if that was an achievement.

“You traveled 5 miles in 12 years?” I couldn’t believe it. 

“ _ Well, this is going to get very interesting. Whatever could be causing such a gridlock?”  _ I was hoping you might know, sister. “ _ No, not yet.”  _ Helpful.

“I think she might be a bit slow, probably all the fumes you breathed in,” Bran said to Valerie and me. I ignored them and sat the kitten down on the bed behind me. 

“Where are you from?” Valerie asked.

I ignored her, “Nevermind that, I have to get out!” I leaned over their heads to look out the front window. “My friend is in one of these cars, she was taken, hostage. I should get back to the TARDIS.” I pulled open the door to find the platform from before gone. The fumes immediately making me begin to chock again. 

“You’re too late for that, we passed the lay-by,” Bran said from behind me. I hated that he was right but I closed the door anyway. “You are a passenger now, Lady Wolf.” 

“When is the next lay-by?” I asked quickly, thinking of different ways out of the problem. 

“Oh, probably about 6 months,” Bran said slowly, he could tell I was getting angry with the situation. 

I couldn’t believe it. I had lost Martha and it would take forever to even begin to try and save her. So much for me becoming the Defender of the Universe, I can’t even protect my new friend. 

“ _ We will figure this out, you just have to believe.”  _ The Doctor never messed up this bad. “ _ You don’t know that, you knew him after he’d been doing this for centuries. He messed up plenty of times, you are new at this.  _

I didn’t answer her, instead, I just stared up at lines of cars through the window. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave some love in the form of comments, kudos, and bookmarks!


	13. Boe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go, finishing the Gridlock episode. 
> 
> I'm gonna slow down with the updates for a while, school and work are just starting to pick up. I'll try to keep it going on the weekends but when I get a handle on it, I start posting more and more. 
> 
> Leave some love in the form of kudos, comments, and bookmarks!

**Chapter 13**

**Rose**

**Boe**

I sat in one of the driver’s chairs and scanned the screen with my sonic. I held the radio in one hand and the sonic in the other. Bran watched me silently as Valerie tended to the kitten in the back. 

“I need to talk to the police,” I said into the radio.

A robotic voice answered me, “Thank you for your call, you have been placed on hold.”

“You are the police, you can’t just put me on hold,” I said into the radio. The robotic voice repeated itself to me and I gave up in annoyance. I turned to Bran, “Is there anyone else? I once met the Duke of Manhattan with my husband. Is there any way to get through to him?” 

“Oh look at you, proper lady and all that,” Bran said unhelpfully.

“I’ve got to find my friend, her name is Martha and I brought her here and now she is in danger because of me.”

Valerie came out from behind the curtain, “You can’t make any outside calls. The motorway’s completely enclosed.”

“What about the other cars?” I was grasping at straws. 

“We’ve got contact with them, yeah. Well, some of them anyway. They’ve got to be on your friends’ list. Now, let’s see, who is nearby?” He turned to the monitor, “Ah, the Cassini sisters! Be still your hearts, my handsome girls. It’s Brannigan here.” He said into the radio.  
An older woman’s voice came through the line. “Get off the line, Brannigan. You’re a pest and a menace.”

Valerie began to chuckle next to me. Brannigan responded, “Come on now, sisters, is that any way to talk to an old friend?”

“You know full well we’re not sisters. We‘re married.” The lady’s voice came over. 

“Ooh! Stop that modern talk, I’m an old-fashioned cat. Now, I’ve got a hitchhiker here, calls herself Lady Wolf.” Brannigan said. I took the radio out of his hand and spoke into it. 

“Hello, sorry, I’m looking for someone called Martha Jones. She’s been carjacked. She’s inside one of these vehicles and I don’t know which one.” 

“Wait a minute,” The lady’s voice came through.

Another lady came through, I assumed the other wife. “Could I ask what entrance did they use?”

I looked at Brannigan, “Pharmacy town.” I repeated what he said to the lady, adding on, “about 20 minutes ago.”

“Let’s have a look,” The Lady said. The first lady’s voice came through while she looked. “Just my luck to have married a car-spotter.”

“In the last half-hour, 53 new cars joined from pharmacy town junction.” The car spotter said. 

“Anything more specific Mrs. Cassini?” I asked.

“All in good time.” She said to me. I felt only slightly bad for being impatient. “Was she carjacked by two people?”

“Yeah, she was. Said something about needing 3.”

“There we are! Just one of those cars was destined for the fast lane. That means they had three on board. And the car number is 4-6-5-diamond-6.” 

_ “There’s some progress! Finally!” _

“That’s it! So how do we find them?” I said excitedly. 

“Ah, now there I’m afraid I can’t help.” The lady said to me. 

“We can call them, right. We’ve got their number, diamond-6.” I asked Brannigan and Valerie. 

They both shook their heads forlornly. “Not if they’re designated fast lane. It’s a different class.” Brannigan said. 

“ _ Oh, that’s completely unhelpful.”  _ No way, sister. 

“You could try the police,” The car spotter said through the radio. 

“I did, they were a big fat load of no help. They put me on hold.”

“You’ll just have to keep trying, there is no one else.” The first lady said.

“Thanks anyway, Mrs. and Mrs. Cassini,” I said into the radio before putting it down. I handed it back to Brannigan and we sat there in silence for a moment. 

“We need to get down to the fast lane.” I pleaded with Brannigan and Valerie. 

“Absolutely not,” Brannigan said immediately. “Not in a million years, sorry Rose.”

“You’ve got three passengers,” I said trying to convince them.

“I’m still not going,” Brannigan said resolutely. 

“Seh’s alone and she’s lost. She doesn’t even belong on this planet, and it’s all my fault. I’m asking you, Brannigan, take me down.” 

“That’s a no, and that’s final.” Valerie spoke up, “I’m not risking the children down there.”

I immediately felt awful, I had forgotten about the children. I would never ask anyone to risk their children for me and I hoped no one would ever ask me to either. I brushed my hand over my small bump lightly, not enough to draw attention though. 

“ _ What are they so afraid of?”  _ I’m gonna find out.

“You’re right Valerie, I’m sorry. I forgot about the children in my panic for my friend. But please tell me, why? What is the risk? I need to know what my friend is going down into. I won’t force you guys to help me any more than you already have.” 

They both clammed up and didn’t say anything in response. I decided to try a new tactic and grabbed the radio again. 

“Mrs. Cassini, Rose again, how long have you been driving on the motorway?” 

“Oh, we were one of the first, it’s been 23 years now.” The first Mrs. Cassini said.

“And in all that time, have you ever seen a police car?” Both Valerie and Bran looked at me in shock. The Cassini’s were silent for a moment. 

The car-spotter spoke up, “I’m not sure.” 

I watched both Bran and Valerie get uncomfortable. “Look at your notes. Any police?”

I could hear Mrs. Cassini getting flustered, “Not as such.”

“What about an ambulance? Rescue service? Anything official, ever?”

“I can’t keep a note of everything you know, Lady Rose.” She sounded offended, I think she was just trying to hide her embarrassment. 

“ _ I think you are hitting all the right nerves, Sister.”  _

“What if there is no one out there?” I said ominously.

Bran had enough of my line of questioning and ripped the radio from my hand. “Stop it, Lady Wold. The Cassini’s were doing you a favor.”

“I’m sorry Brannigan but someone has to ask the hard questions here. Something is going on here and no one is talking about it. That doesn’t mean it isn’t there. I can see the fear in your eyes, what if the traffic jam never stops?”

“There‘s a whole city above us. The mighty city-state of New New York. They wouldn’t just leave us.” I could hear the desperation in his voice, he was begging me to stop but I was on a roll now. 

“In that case, where are they? Hmm? What if there’s no help coming, not ever? What if there is nothing? Just this godforsaken motorway?” He finally stopped trying to hide his fear and I could see it building in his eyes. “With the cars just going round and round, never stopping? Forever!”

“Shut up! Just shut up!” Valerie said from her driver’s seat. I took a breath and relaxed back a bit, I had gotten really close to Brannigan and moved out of his personal space. Before I could say anything else, the small screen came on with the newscaster from before. 

“This is Sally Calypso, and it’s that time again. The sun is blazing high in the sky of the New Atlantic. The perfect setting for the daily contemplation.” 

“You don’t know anything about anything here, Lady Rose. We are not abandoned down here, not when we have each other.” Brannging reached over and took Valerie’s hand. 

“This is for all of you out there on the roads.” Sally Calypso said, “We’re so sorry. Drive safe.” A song came through the screen and both Bran and Valerie began to sing it quietly. 

“ _ It’s a beautiful song, I can hear the people singing it from where I am.”  _ Seriously? “ _ Oh, yes.  _ Sister, how long can I handle the smog? Can the baby?  _ “Well, you are both protected so it won’t kill you but it will definitely affect you. What are you planning?  _ I’m thinking about car hopping.  _ “Well, that is definitely dangerous and reminiscent of the Doctor. But I agree, you need to save Martha, especially if there is something down in the fast lane. Whatever it may be, my scans can’t reach through the smog.  _ Looks like I’m gonna car hop. Let’s do this. 

“I’m not going to force you to take me but I will get to Martha somehow, on my own.” I turned away from Bran and Valerie and began scanning the bottom of their car with my sonic. 

“What do you think you are going to do? Brannigan asked.

“I’m gonna car hop, jump from one car to the next till I get to Martha.” The sonic beeped lightly and I found my opening. I pulled the door open and watched as a car came to stop right below us. “Here we go, goodbye Branigann, Valerie, Kittens.” 

“You can’t jump!” Valerie said. 

“This Martha must mean a lot to you, Rose,” Bran said. 

“She’s my friend, and I don’t leave friends behind,” I said to them. With a wave, I jumped and landed on the roof of the next car, quickly sonicing it open. 

I jumped into the next car and found a pale man alone in the car. 

“Who the hell are you?” He asked shocked at my appearance. 

“ _ Make something funny up, please. Your so good at improve.” _

“Sorry, motorway foot patrol. I’m doing a survey. How are you enjoying your trip on the motorway?” I said as I moved to find the bottom hatch of the car.

“ _ Haha. Brilliant.” _

“Well, not very much actually. Junction 5 has been closed for three years.” He said as I pulled open the hatch. 

“Thank you, your comments have been noted. Have a nice day!” With that, I hopped down to the next car.

The next car held two hippie-looking women, I did the same thing although I borrowed a bandanna to wrap around my face, the smog was already starting to get to me. It was blue and it matched my leather jacket. 

The 4th car a nudist couple, I didn’t even try with the survey cover. The next a completely red man, red hair, skin, clothing, everything. I gave him a wave and moved on. Again and again down the levels of cars. 

One more car, I found a single man wearing a suit and a top hat. Very nicely dressed when you live in a car, I must say.

“Excuse me, is that legal?” He question. 

“Sorry, motorway foot patrol.” I wiped the rag down my face. “Oh whatever, have you got any water?” 

“Certainly. Never let it be said I’ve lost my manners.” He quickly got me a cup of water.

“Is this the last layer of cars?” I asked after downing the water. 

“We’re right at the bottom. Nothing below us but the fast lane.” He said helpfully. 

“Can we drive down?” I asked although I had a feeling of what he was gonna say. 

“There are only two of us.” Yup, I was right. “You need three to go down.”

“We can’t cheat the system a little bit?” 

“ _ They really don’t understand how stupid this whole thing is, do they?”  _ I didn’t answer her, she already knew how I felt about that.

“I’d love to, but this is an automated system. The wheel would lock.” He jiggled the wheel to prove his point. 

“Fine, then excuse me.” I went back to find the bottom hatch of the car.

“You can’t jump, it’s 1000 feet down!” Top hat said aghast. 

“No, I just need to take a look.” I looked down into the smog, it was impossible to see anything. 

“What is down there?” I asked no one in particular. 

Top hat responded though, “I try not to think about it.” 

All of a sudden lights began appearing from the smog. “Are those lights? I just need to see it better.”

“ _ Maybe there is some kind of ventilation, maybe you can trip something in the car to move the smog around. Give it some kind of breeze.” _

I moved from the hatch to the front of the car next to the top-hat guy and began sonicing the screen. I had to play with a few bit of wires before something sparked and I triggered it. 

“That’s it! Might shift the smog a little. Give me a chance to see what’s down there.” I raced back to the hatch.

Top Hat followed me, “What are those shapes?”

“They are alive,” I said as I began to pick out what looked like giant lobster claws reaching up. “What the hell are they?”

“ _ Macra.”  _ Lovely.

“They are Macra. They used to be the scourge of this galaxy. Gas. They feed off of gas, the filthier, the better. They built up a small empire using humans as slaves and mining gas for food.” I told Top Hat.

“They don’t exactly look like empire-builders to me.” He said. 

“Well that was billions of years ago, They must have devolved down as the years passed. Now they are just beasts. But they are still hungry beasts and my friend Martha is down there.” 

Before he could say anything, there was a banging on the roof. Someone was coming down as I had before. 

“It’s like new times square in here! For goodness sake!” He said. Down came a lady in a dress. 

“Looks like I’ve invented a sport,” I said excitedly. “Cross that off my bucket list ehh.” 

“ _ You are truly so funny.”  _

The lady turned out to be a cat nurse carrying a gun, one I happened to recognize from the first time I was here. “Oh hello, Miss Tyler. I was looking for the doctor, is he here?”

Before I could respond Top Hat had something to say. “No guns! I’m not having guns in my car.”

She turned to him, “I only brought this in case of pirates. Miss Tyler, I need the Doctor.”

“Novice Hame, the doctor isn’t here. He’s..he’s dead.” It was easier than explaining the whole truth. “And besides, why would he help you anyway. The last time we saw you, you were breeding humans for experimentation.”

“I have sought forgiveness for my crimes, Miss Tyler. I have worked under his guidance, and the Doctor was going to be my last chance at redeeming myself. Oh, the Doctor can’t be dead! Maybe you can help me, Miss Tyler?” She begged.

“Um, I am dealing with the Macra living underneath the city. I’m a little busy right now, recusing my friend and saving your planet, again, sorry. Maybe next time.” I wasn’t in the mood to deal with this right now. 

“You’ve got to come with me right now! This situation is much worse than you are aware, the Macra are just a side effect.” She grabbed my hand and only then did I notice a large device on her wrist. She pressed a button and commanded it, “Transport!”

My attempts to stop her, fruitless. We were sucked up through the technology and deposited in a run down and darkroom. The teleport was rough and we both crashed to the floor.

“Rough teleport, good job Novice Hame. Ow! You go straight back down and teleport all those other people out, starting with my friend.”

“I only had enough power for one trip.” She tried to placate me and it did nothing. 

“Then find some more power, where are we?” I looked around the darkroom. 

“High above, in the Overcity.” She said, looking around the shadows. 

“Good, cause I need to have some words with the senate of New New York, especially the mayor. There are thousands of people down there, trapped on the motorway. Millions probably!”

“That’s the thing, Miss Tyler. You are already in the Senate. May the goddess Santori bless thee.” She pressed another button on her wrist and the room light up to show an empty and destroyed senate room. Skeletons were still sitting in the Senate seats. Power cords lined the floor, leading to something I couldn’t see. 

“ _ Dear Rassillion and all other deities. This is awful.” _

“They all died, Miss Tyler. The city died.”

“How long has it been like this?” I asked as I walked through the room. 

“24 years,” Novice Hame answered me, following me slowly. 

“All of them? Everyone? What happened?” I leaned down next to a skeleton, I glanced up at her, waiting for her answer. 

“A new chemical. A new mood. They called it ‘bliss’. Everyone tried it and once they did, they couldn’t stop. A virus mutated inside the compound and became airborne. Everything perished, even the virus in the end. It killed the entire world in 7 minutes flat. There was just enough time to close down the walkways and the flyovers, sealing off the Undercity. Those people on the motorway aren’t lost, Miss Tyler. They were saved.”

“Everything down there is running on automatic.” I couldn’t believe my ears. 

“There isn’t enough power to get them out. We did all we could to stop the system from choking.” She explained.

“Who’s we? How did you survive?” I asked her, I couldn’t understand how she could have survived on her own.

“ _ That is a good question, I was wondering that myself.” _

“He protected me. And he has waited all these years for the Doctor. I only hope that you are enough, Miss Tyler.”

“Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence,” I said sarcastically. 

“Rose,” A voice said into my head, one I recognized. I turned to look for the source. I ran and found him sitting behind the rows of seats. 

“The Face of Boe!” I ran up to be right next to him. 

“I knew you would come.” He said to me. 

“Back in the old days, I was made his nurse as penance for my sin,” Hame said from behind me. 

“Hello, my old friend. What’s happened to you?” I placed my hand on the glass of his tank. 

“A failing, Rose.”

“He protected me from the virus by shrouding me in his smoke. But with no one to maintain it, the city’s power died. The Undercity would have fallen into the sea.” Hame explained. 

I turned back to Boe, “You saved them.” He nodded his large head slightly in his tank.

“The Face of Boe wired himself into the mainframe. He’s giving his life force just to keep things running.”

“But there are planets out there. You could have called for help.” I couldn’t understand what they had to wait for the Doctor and not help from other planets nearby.

“The last act of the Senate was to declare New Earth unsafe. The automatic quarantine lasts for 100 years.” She said.

The Face of Boe groaned a bit and drew my attention back to him. “You two have stayed here, all alone for years.”

“We had no choice,” Hame said humbly.

I stood up from my crouch and walked over to Hame and put my hand on her arm. “Yes, you did and you choose the most selfless choice there was.”

“Rose, you need to save them,” Boe said from behind me. “Save them.” He seemed to fall asleep after that, talking to me seemed to take a lot of his energy. 

\---------------------

Hame and I let Boe sleep and went to try and figure out how to save the people down in the motorway. We pulled up a screen and I used the sonic to make it show me the fast lane. After a couple of moments of loading, It pulled up a view of the fast lane, there diving up and down, probably avoiding Macra was the car. 

“There Car 4-6-5-diamond-6, it still registers! That’s Martha. I knew she was bright and would figure it out. Hame, hold that in place.” I handed her a cord and went skimming past the other cords. 

“ _ Take the residual energy, convert it, feed it through the electricity system. You are going to power it, the energy inside of you. Boe doesn’t need to sacrifice more of himself.” _

“What are you doing Miss Tyler, there isn’t enough power,” Hame said but she stayed where I had put her with the cords. 

“Don’t worry about power! I’m here and I’m all the power you need.” I shouted over my shoulder. I grabbed two cords in each of my hands and turned back to Hame. “Turn every switch on that bank up to maxim!” 

“But! You’ll die!” She said aghast.

“No, nope I won’t. Just do it!” She didn’t look convinced but did so anyway. 

“I can’t power up the whole city, but all the city needs is people. And I can give it that.” I said as I watched her flip the final switch. 

“ _ Not yet, you can’t.”  _ We are gonna circle back to that statement at a later date. “ _ Ok.” _

My hands began to glow and the glow slowly began to power up the machines around us. As I channeled more energy through me, the rest of my body gained a small glow, my eyes shinning the most. As the power began to flow through the machines I dropped one cord but held the other still pushing power through it. With my newly freed hand, I pushed down a large lever. 

“Wake up Boe! You are gonna want to see this!” I didn’t turn to see but I knew he had opened his eyes. 

I looked out a window nearby and could see the Undercity opening up. I dropped the cords and reigned in the glowing power. Running to a nearby camera and screen, I used my sonic to start broadcasting. 

The red light went on and I began. “Sorry, no Sally Calypso here, she was just a hologram. My name is Lady Wolf and this is an order. Everyone needs to drive up. Right now, I’ve opened the roof of the motorway. Come on, drive up. Press the gas pedal and let’s go! Drive people, Drive! We need to clear the fast lane! Oi! Car 4-6-5-diamond-6 now I am speaking to you! Martha! Drive-Up! I’ve cleared the roadway, you have room!”

I turned off the full broadcast and just carried the microphone to speak to Martha’s car. I walked away front the screen back to the window to see thousands of cars flying into the sky. Hame was staring at me in shock but I paid her no mind. Boe had a strange look of pride on his face but I didn’t focus on it. 

“Car 4-6-5-diamond-6, I’ve sent you a flight path, come to the Senate,” I said into the radio. 

_ “Well done, Sister.” _

Martha’s voice answered me, “On our way!”

“Miss Tyler! He needs you!” Hame said before I could respond to Martha. I turned around to see Boe’s tank cracking. By the time I reached him the tank crumbled and Boe slid out and onto the floor. I sat with him cradled against me on the floor, Hame on his other side. We sat in silence with him as we waited for him to die.

“Rose?” Martha’s voice carried from the other side of the room. 

“Over here, Martha,” I said just loud enough for her to hear me.

“Rose, what happened to this place?” I heard her question, I was too distracted to answer her. She finally made it to where we sat and came to an abrupt halt as she saw Boe. He was the second alien and much stranger looking than the Judoon. 

“What’s or who’s that?” She said slightly afraid. 

“It’s the Face of Boe. It’s all right, he is an old friend of mine. Come say hello.” I waved her over and she inched closer, still weary. “This is Hame, she is a cat. Don’t worry. Boe and Hame helped me save you, they have been taking care of this planet for 24 years. Now he is dying.”

“My lord has given his life to this city,” Hame said reverently. Martha slowly came closer drawn in by our mourning. “Now he is dying,” Hame said as Martha knelt down next to her, not close enough to touch Boe. 

“Oh no, don’t say that. Boe isn’t gonna die, there is plenty of life left in him yet.” I refused to accept it. 

“ _ Everyone dies at some point, Sister. It very well might be his time.”  _ No. Not yet.

“It’s good to breath fresh air once again,” Boe spoke into our minds, Martha jumped in shock but after looking at me and the gentle smile I had on my face, she relaxed.

“Who is he?” Martha questioned.

“I don’t know, I’m not even sure the Doctor knew. Legend says the Face of Boe has lived for billions of years. Is that right, Huh Boe?” I asked. “And, you aren’t about to give up yet, huh Boe?”

“Everything has its time. Every lifetime, even this one. You will learn that as you continue Lady Wolf, better than most.” Boe said to me. 

“ _ He is right, my love.”  _

“The legend says more,” Hame said. 

I remembered what the Doctor told me of the last time he had seen him, how he had mentioned a prophecy. Something Boe would say to him, not me. “No, that prophecy isn’t for me. It was for my husband and he is long gone. There is no need for that now.” 

“It says that the Face of Boe will speak his final secret to a traveler. It never actually specified your husband. He just believed it did, who else would travel like him, see the things he would. 

“I don’t need to hear his final secret, secrets cause problems.” I didn’t want this to be the end and if that meant putting off the secret I would. 

“It is time now, Rose. I have seen so much through these eyes. I am the only one of my kind left, just as you are the only one of yours, Rose.” Boe spoke through my mind, I could tell by Martha and Hame’s faces they couldn’t hear what he was saying to me. 

“That’s why we need to survive, one person genocide. I can’t be a part of that.” I felt tears burning in my eyes but didn’t try and stop them. “Please, don’t go.”

“It is time for this life to end, Wolf. But know this, Lady Wolf…” He trailed off in my mind and when I looked at his face instead of my hands I saw him moving his lips to speak again. “There are more of them.” He let out another breath and then his eyes slowly fell closed. We all watched him for a moment before it was clear he was gone.

_ “He is gone, I can’t feel him anymore.”  _

My tears fell silently. Hame began to sob across from me and Martha bowed her head. After a moment I couldn’t take it anymore and got up and walked away. Martha following me and Hame still sobbing. 

We walked and walked out of the senate and down alleys. I was following the call of my sister and Martha followed closely behind, no doubting that I knew where I was going. As we came closer to our parking spot I noticed the vendors from before had listened to me and closed up shop. 

“Good, they listened,” I said as we passed them. Martha must have understood what I meant because she didn’t say anything. “New New York can start again, Novice Hame will be a big help to them. Come on, it’s time we were off, I’m in need of a nap and some food, unsure of which order yet.”

“Do you know what he meant? The Face of Boe? There are more of them?” Martha stood in the middle of the alleyway, stopped as she waited for an answer.

“I don’t know, I’m sure I’ll figure it out eventually. Come on back to the TARDIS.” She didn’t look happy at my answer but she accepted it and kept walking with me. 

As we walked back to the TARDIS we heard the voices of the city begin singing their song from before on the radio. The sound was beautiful. It was as if they were singing to honor their savior, though they probably would never know what he did for them. 

“I think I am going to take you to see another friend of mine. On Earth and there I will tell you my story if you still want to hear it.” I told her as we entered the TARDIS and shucked our jackets. 

“Ok, sure. I thought you wanted food and a nap though. Are we going to do that first?” She asked as she rested against the pilot’s bench. 

“Yeah, we will be there in the morning when you wake up. I’ll probably be in the kitchen with her and her son. Just come on out of the TARDIS and come in. We will be parked in her backyard.” I told her.

She gave me a tired nod and went off to find her room, hopefully in the same spot she left it this morning. 

I walked over to the council and put in SJ’s address and the right date. The night after Martha’s brother’s party. With a quick pull of a lever and a moment’s wait, we were there. I really wanted SJ after watching Boe die and walked right out of the TARDIS to find us parked right next to the backdoor. I left Martha inside the TARDIS, safe in the knowledge that if she needed me, Sister would let me know. 

I pulled out the key SJ had given me and walked right into the dark house. I bypassed the kitchen and Luke’s room and mine and went straight to SJ’s. The light was still on under the door so I knocked softly. 

“Come in, Luke,” She called not knowing it was me. I entered anyway and saw her look up from a book she was reading. She jumped out of bed and was across the room before I could even open my mouth. 

“Rose? What happened?” She drew me into her arms and I immediately began to cry into her shoulder. 

“Ohh, come here sweetie.” She pulled me towards her bed and laid down with me in her arms. She held me as I cried until exhaustion took over and I fell asleep in her arms. 

\-----------------

**Back on New Earth**

**A Different Rose**

The Senate room was empty except for the skeletons and the newly dead body of Boe. Hame had left to try and help the people of New New York and the noise from the newly alive city floated into the room. Other than that, the Senate room was silent. 

Suddenly, Boe’s dead body began to glow, and soon the entire Face of Boe was covered in golden light. The light is too bright for any human to survive looking at.

Across from the glowing body of Boe, the TARDIS slowly came into focus as it landed. Well, a TARDIS landed, certainly not the same one that had left New Earth a couple of hours before. The double doors opened and a blonde head poked out and turned to look at the glowing body. The brightness of the glowing light not even fazing her. She rolled her eyes at the drama queen in front of her. Of course, he was making a show of this, everything was a chance to be dramatic nowadays. She stepped fully out of the TARDIS wearing similar but different to the clothes that she wore earlier. She leaned up against the TARDIS and tapped her foot impatiently. 

“Let’s go!” She was getting annoyed. 

The light began to shrink and before her eyes, the large head turned into the young body of her best friend. After a moment the light was gone and the man stood up. Dusting off imaginary dirt of his newly formed bare legs. His nakedness not even phasing her, he hadn’t worn much clothing when he was just a giant head. 

“Stop rushing me, it’s a lot of work to reform my entire body. Why did I have to be a giant head?” He said annoyed as he walked into the TARDIS and past the blonde woman, not looking at her once.

She threw her head back and laughed as she followed him into her home. 

“Oh hush, you aren’t funny.” He reprimanded her from inside. 

She laughed even harder. 

The door closed behind her and within moments the TARDIS was gone into space and time.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave some love in the form of kudos, comments, and bookmarks!


	14. Story Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonding time!
> 
> Everyone is a little OC now, that's kinda inevitable with an AU but I hope you people all enjoy it!
> 
> Leave some love in the form of comments, kudos, and bookmarks!

**Chapter 14**

**Rose**

**Story Time**

I woke up to the sound of an alarm, before I could process what it was, there was the noise of someone turning it off. 

“Gahh...I forgot to turn it off.” SJ’s voice said quietly, annoyed, “Are you still asleep?” 

“No,” I groaned in response. 

“Oh sorry sweetie, I just wanted to let you sleep. It’s just my alarm to be up for Luke to go to school. You can go back to sleep if you want.” She smoothed my hair back as she tried to get me back to sleep. 

I rolled onto my back and stared up at the ceiling of her room for a moment. “No, I better be up, Martha will be up soon and I told her I would be up for her.” 

I threw the covers off me and sat up, looking at Sarah Jane as she fiddled with her earrings. As soon as I looked at her the previous night came back to me. Me barging into her room, crying on her, and falling asleep in her bed. My face grew hot as blood rushed to my face. 

“I’m sorry, about last night...I shouldn’t have bothered you when I got in.” I looked down embarrassed. 

I heard her freeze then heard her move over towards me. I still didn’t look up but I felt the bed dip next to me. She wrapped an arm around my hunched shoulders and pulled me into her, my head resting on her collarbone. 

After a moment she spoke, “Rose, I don’t ever want you to feel bad for coming to me. In fact, I’m glad you came to me when you were struggling. Now I don’t know what happened last night or whenever it was but it made you upset. The last thing you need to do is bottle down your feelings, you have enough on your shoulders between the baby and saving the universe all the time. Whenever you need to let some emotions out or if you just want some comfort, I want you to come to me. Even if you are bored, you can come to me no matter what time it is or what I am doing.”

Her words we so nice and motherly they made me what to squirm in discomfort. I felt for a moment that if I accepted her comfort it was a betrayal to my own mom. But then I remembered who Jackie Tyler was and I knew that she would hit me upside the head for thinking that and those feelings dissipated. I nodded my head lightly to Sarah Jane’s words and relaxed a bit into the embrace. 

“I think it all just hit me yesterday, a old friend died yesterday. Someone I had met a couple of times before with the Doctor. He had wanted to see the Doctor before he died but all he got was me….I don’t know how to do this. How to be the savior of the universe, to know everything, to think on my feet as he did. I was on the sidelines most of the time watching him in awe at the impossible feats he accomplished. If I didn’t have this connection with the TARDIS I would probably still be sitting in front of that wall in Canary Warf.” Once I got started I couldn’t stop, the feelings just exploded from my mouth like vomit. 

Sarah Jane said patiently and held me as I unloaded onto her. She rubbed my back and hummed in the right spots to show me she was listening. After I finished she was silent, processing everything I’d told her. 

“I’m not going to tell you that the Doctor didn’t know what he was doing when he started or that he had centuries of experience doing this and you only have maybe 3 years at this point. You know all these things, but I am going to tell you this. I believe in you and I believe that you can do this. But what I believe, what the TARDIS believes, and even what he believes or would believe if he knew what you were doing, those things don’t matter. What mattress is if you believe in yourself and if you believe you can do this, and if you’re not quite there then that’s okay too. Do you want to do this? Do you want to take this job on?” She let me sit and process her words after she was done. 

I could hear the sounds of Luke getting ready for school down the hall, the faucet turning on and off, the sounds of his footsteps up and down the hall, the squeaks of the door hinges. I twisted my two band rose gold and sapphire wedding ring round and round my finger. My engagement ring stationary closer up to my knuckle. 

“I do,” I said it so quietly I didn’t think she heard me. I said it louder, more confident, “I do. I do want to do this, I’m not just doing this because I think he would want me to. I’m doing this because I enjoy saving people, I enjoy traveling the universe and meeting all these people. It’s my calling, and I love it.” 

I felt a burst of warmth and light from the previously silent TARDIS. She had been quiet the entire time I was talking to SJ

“Ok, then. Good.” Sarah Jane said with a small clap of her hands. She stood up brushed imaginary dirt off her pants and turned to hold a hand out to me. “Let’s get some breakfast, Luke wants to see you before he goes to school and I want to meet this friend Martha.” 

I grabbed her hand and let her pull me up and into an impromptu hug. I wrapped my hands around her just as tight and enjoyed the hug. After a moment she pulled back and looked at my small, growing bump. 

“Oh, you’re showing a bit!” She placed her hand on my stomach and looked up at me, “How far now?”

“About 13 weeks, I just started showing,” I told her with a small smile. “Now, I’m hungry, can we go eat?” 

\---------------------

I sat alone in the kitchen with a plate full of eggs, toast, sausage, and a nice cup of tea. SJ had left to take Luke to school and promised to be back soon. The food was heavenly and I couldn’t get enough of it. SJ had left the radio on in the kitchen and I was humming along with a song when Sister spoke in my head. 

“ _ She is awake and coming out momentarily.”  _ Thank you, will you guide her with lights if she needs them?  _ Obviously, but she should be fine.  _

I chuckled in response but said nothing else, instead of taking a large bite of my eggs. I glanced towards the TARDIS parked right outside the kitchen door. After a moment the police box doors opened and I saw the top of Martha’s head walkout. 

I glanced at the open kitchen window to make sure it was open before shouting to her, “Come on in, there’s breakfast.” 

“Oh... there you are, Rose. Coming.” She opened the door gently and slowly walked in. 

“It’s just us here, Sarah Jane took her son Luke to school, she’ll be back soon. Come sit, she left me with plenty of food, please get something to eat.” I waved my hands at the food covering the table. 

“Thanks,” She took a piece of toast but didn’t eat it. “I’m confused.” 

“ _ Blunt. I like it.” _ I agree.

“I get it, I told you I have no family anymore but now we are sitting in this random house eating someone’s food talking and acting as if I live here. Not to mention I haven’t told you much about anything and I keep putting you off and distracting you. In fact, I am proud of you for speaking up about your confusion, never be afraid to speak up or speak your mind.”

‘Yeah, that about sums it up. Is today explanation day?” She asked before finally taking a bite of toast. 

“Yes, I will tell you everything you want to know today? If you have questions don’t be afraid to ask. Now, I’m not going to tell you my whole life story but I will tell you enough to get the idea. Now, right now we are sitting in Sarah Jane Smith’s house, she lives here with her son Luke and I visit occasionally and stay in the guest room whenever I am here. I stayed in the house last night after Boe died, his death was a lot for me.”

“You were so quiet last night, I wasn’t sure what to do. I’m sorry that you lost a friend and I’m sorry that I wasn’t much help.” Martha said sadly. 

“Don’t worry about it, you and I barely know each other yet. I don’t expect you to read every subtle emotion and feeling on my face and help me get through it. In fact, I don’t expect you to do that at all. All I want is a friend to travel with, my husband used to call them “companions”. I just don’t want to be alone anymore.” I said my face burning lightly. 

“That sounds like something I could do, I’d have to come up with an explanation for my family though, and the hospital. Companion to a time and space traveling alien, that’s not something I can put on my resume but definitely something I want to brag about.” She chuckled as she took another bite of toast. “So who is Sarah Jane to you? Family?”

“Kinda, I have only known her about a year, maybe a little more than that now. She traveled with my husband a long time ago, in the seventies. I was with the Doctor, my husband when he ran into her for the first time in years, he made some bad decisions and abandoned her, long before I was in the picture. After Canary Warf, when I lost him and the rest of my family, which I’ll get to more in a few, she was the only one who could understand what I was going through. So I came to her and we made our own little family here and whenever I am in town (or on earth) I stop by.” I explained as I heard the front door open and close. “Sounds like she’s back. Hey, we are in the kitchen still.” I called a little louder for SJ.

“Coming, sweets, I need a cuppa, it’s cold out there.” She said as she walked into the kitchen and straight to the still slightly warm kettle. She flipped the burner on and turned to lean on the counter next to the stove. 

“Hi..uh...Sarah Jane, I’m Martha Jones.” Martha said awkwardly with a small wave. 

“Hi, Martha. It’s nice to meet you. I’d like to say I’ve heard a lot by now but Rose isn’t very good at responding to messages yet.” She said with a smile directed at me. 

“Hey, I was busy. First, there was Judoon and then Shakespear and some witches and then Boe and New Earth. I was a little preoccupied. 

“I’m sorry did you say, Shakespeare and witches?” SJ asked shocked. 

“Yeah, that was my first actual trip. It was crazy, there were these witches and the lost play Love’s Labor’s Won. It was so cool and Will is awesome, he figured out that we were time travelers and he saw through that physic paper no bother. It was amazing.” Martha was excited, being able to talk about her trip to someone who knew what was going on. Sarah Jane listened intently, her love for time travel coming out. I just sat back in the chair with my tea and rubbed my bump. 

Martha came to a stop about our story in 1599, Sarah Jane was quick to pick up the conversation with a story from her travels with the Doctor. This one about dinosaurs in London in the seventies. I had never heard this story and was immediately intrigued to hear all about it. The story of the entire city having to be evacuated made me laugh and of course, they managed to fix it because he would have never left something so amiss. As SJ spoke she made her tea and came to sit in the empty chair next to us. Slowly the story came to an end and I knew it was my turn but my story wasn’t gonna be just one trip. I owed Martha more of an explanation than that. 

“I first met the Doctor in 2005, it was his 9th incarnation. Martha, the doctor is from a race called the Time Lords, they live much longer than we do because they have 12 lives. Each different incarnation can live to a ripe old age and die only to be born again from this golden light. It’s called regeneration, I saw him through two bodies. His 9th and his 10th.” I started. 

SJ spoke up, interrupting me. “I traveled with his 3rd and 4th incarnations but met a couple of other ones of him too. Including his 10th, when I met Rose and his 5th.” 

“He rescued me from when Henrik’s exploded back in 2005. Then he offered to take me along with him and we went everywhere. The first trip he took me on was where I met the Face of Boe, it was the end of Earth, where the sun finally explodes and burns up the solar system - long after humanity has moved on from Earth so don’t worry there was no one there. Huh, I’ve seen both the creation of the earth and the destruction, that’s rather poetic. 

“Anyway, he was really bad at timing his landings and I was actually missing for an entire year, the police thought my old boyfriend Mickey had killed me but that got cleared up pretty quick. After that time, my traveling with him was cleared up, people thought I was backpacking around Europe. We would come back and visit my mom, Jackie, and Mickey who wasn’t just my old boyfriend, we knew each other since we were in diapers.” I took a minute to breathe, Martha sat listening intently, SJ knowing most of this stuff was here for moral support. 

After that, I told them about some of the trips we took. The first time I visited New Earth, meeting Charles Dickens, the explosion of Downing Street, meeting Daleks, going back in the past to meet my father and the repercussions of my actions there. I told them about Jack and meeting him in WWII, Christmas, Werewolves, the Cybermen, and Pete’s universe, then I circled back to Canary Warf and the void which was the beginning of the end. I had skipped some of the stories but there was no way I could tell them everything that happened and they knew that. I told them about how the Doctor and I fell into our relationship and how besides the new physical aspect nothing had really changed, how we had been made for each other, and how my heart had broken when we were separated. 

Sarah Jane scooted her seat closer to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders and Martha reached across the table and grabbed my hand. After a few minutes of pulling myself together, I told Martha about what happened after Canary Warf, how I discovered my connection with the TARDIS, and what it meant for me. Immortality, magical golden powers that I still didn’t understand, a baby, and a new responsibility. All the time, Martha sat listening, asking questions when she didn’t understand something or I didn’t explain something completely. 

By the time, I finished my story it was almost time for Luke to get back from school. Sarah Jane said he was walking back with his friends Maria and Clyde. She got up to make some lunch for us and Luke, and we sat together while she cooked. I was all talked out and no one had anything to say, so we sat in the silence amicably. 

The door opened and closed before Luke’s voice carried out, “Is Rose still here?” I heard the sound of his backpack dropping and his feet racing towards the kitchen. 

“What am I, chopped liver?” Sarah Jane responded laughingly.

Before he made it to the kitchen, I dived off the chair pulling Martha with me, outside the door and into the TARDIS pulling the newly fixed chameleon switch on, suddenly invisible. I could hear SJ’s laughter through the partially closed TARDIS door and Luke groan of disappointment when he couldn’t see the TARDIS. I turned to Martha and gestured for her to be quiet, I crouched down and snuck out the invisible door. I peeked through the window to see Luke’s back to the door and SJ see my head. Her smile grew larger and I trusted her to keep him distracted enough for me to sneak in and scare him. The door was still cracked from our haste to get out and I got through without a sound. Before he could even really begin complaining about me leaving before he really got to see me, I was putting my hands over his eyes and making a creepy noise into her ear. 

Luke jumped 5 feet into the air and let out a screech, not that he would admit it. Sarah Jane and I both falling into hysterics immediately. Martha came back in the kitchen while we laughed and sat at the table with a grin on her face. Luke crouched to the floor and held a hand over his heart. 

“That wasn’t nice!” He shouted at me as I slowly came down from laughing. “MOM!” He shouted at SJ, “You should have warned me!”

“I’m sorry sweetie, it was just too easy.” She said as she pulled him into a hug, her smile still etched into her face. “Besides, what else is she supposed to do? You guys are like siblings, I’m pretty sure it’s her responsibility to scare you sometimes.” 

“Sorry, Luke. But your mom is right, it was just too easy.” I pulled him into a hug which he pretended to fight before giving in. “I’ve missed you, kid.”

“I missed you too, by the way, I’m totally getting you back for that.” I rolled my eyes but didn’t say anything. He turned to Martha and gave her a wave. “Hi, I’m Luke, you must be Rose’s friend Martha.”

Their greeting was quick and before I knew it, lunch was on the table and we were all eating so fast there was no time for conversation. The TARDIS in my head glowing happily at our growing family.

\-------------------

Two days later, we still were at Sarah Jane’s when Martha brought up a familiar topic. How was she going to explain her disappearance? To her family, her friends, the hospital, and her residency. I figured the topic would come up, she had mentioned it once and after my story about being presumed dead. 

“I can defer my residency or I can fast track it and be done within a month. I’m already almost there and once I pass I’ll be an actual doctor. Then I can take a gap year and travel with you for however long we want too. Then if we go that route, I can just tell my parents that I am backpacking around Europe, kinda like you did.” Martha suggested nervously as we ate dinner with Luke and SJ. 

“Martha, it is completely up to you. If that’s how you want to do it then we will do it that way. I’m not in any hurry, remember I’m immortal and I literally live on a time machine.” I said calmly. “It’s not like you have to agree to come with me now or never have the opportunity again. My husband worked that way but I don’t.” 

_ “No, you are much better.”  _

She let out a breath and her shoulders relaxed as some tension left her body. “Ok, good. I think I would like to rush my program. That way I don’t have to explain why I left halfway through the program and dropped off the map.”

“That sounds like a very reasonable and well thought out plan. And if your program only takes a month, that gives Rose plenty of reasons to stay with us for a while.” SJ stopped talking with her eyes boring holes into my head. I purposely kept my eyes on Martha. “Right, Rose?”

I looked everywhere but SJ and Luke (who had adopted his mother’s stare) but eventually I couldn’t ignore their stares. 

“I’ll stay but not for the whole month!” I said curbing their excitement before they got too excited.

“Awww…” Luke moaned in disappointment. Sarah Jane shook her head resigned but accepting. 

“I’ll make you a deal, Rose. You can come and go over the course of the month but you have to spend at least 3 days each time you come to stay, and you visit at least 4 times.” Sarah Jane said looking at me. 

I looked at her through skeptical eyes, Martha and Luke watching attentively as I pondered her offer. “3 days each and 4 visits?”

She nodded, waiting for my answer. Luke and Martha on the edge of their seats. 

“Fine.”

“Yes!” Luke shot up from his chair and punched the air. Sarah Jane had a large smile on her face and Martha had a small, proud smile. 

“This visit counts right?” I asked slyly. 

“Oh, you,” Sarah Jane said before she grabbed a dinner roll and threw it at me. I ducked the roll but Luke was ready with some green beans and they landed in my hair. I retaliated with some corn and it landed on Sarah Jane. 

“Food fight!” Martha called as she grabbed something to through, I duked and grabbed her, pulling her down to my side. 

“Teams of two!” I said as I grabbed some chicken and threw it in the direction of SJ and Luke. 

\--------------------

The next morning, I packed up my few belongings from the guest room and moved them back into the TARDIS. Martha had put on her own clothes from our first day and left my old clothes in her room, which was slowly gaining personalization. Sarah Jane had offered to drive her back to her apartment, turns out it was just 20 minutes from Sarah Jane’s house. 

Sarah Jane made sure I ate something before I retreated back into the TARDIS and I was sitting there in the kitchen with some toast and eggs. Since it was Saturday Luke sat with me but he had pancakes to eat, the baby couldn’t handle sweet stuff super early in the morning. 

“Ok, I am gonna take Martha home to her apartment and I’ll be back shortly. Rose, I would prefer if you stayed until I got back but I doubt you will, so I will see you in a few days, ok?” SJ said as she shrugged on a jacket and grabbed her purse. 

“Yeah, I’m gonna get going, I have some studying to do, and I’m sure the Old Girl has something that I need to fix. Did you know SJ that the whooshing noise was because the parking brake was on?”

“No, but it makes a lot of sense. When I ended up on Gallifrey there were no whooshing sounds from the other TARDIS’s.” She said nodding to herself. 

Martha walked in shrugging on her red leather jacket. “I’m ready to go Sarah Jane. I’ll talk to you in a few days Rose.” She walked over to me and gave me a light hug around the shoulders. 

“See you, I’ll text you, ok?” I said hugging her back. 

Sarah Jane walked over and dropped a kiss on Luke’s head and then mine. “Be good Luke,” and with that, she walked out of the kitchen and towards the front room. Martha following her. 

A few minutes later I finished my last piece of toast and stood up, brushing my hands off over my plate. I grabbed my jacket from the back of my chair, gave Luke a light hug, and said goodbye. The TARDIS was still waiting for me just outside the back door, her front door already cracked for me. 

“ _ Welcome back Love.”  _ Hi, sister, what do you have ready for me? “ _ Lots of reading and more Gallifreyan lessons.”  _ Yay!

She didn’t dignify my sarcasm with an actual response just let out a three-toned hum and pulled the library doors closer up the main hallway. 

\------------------

In the month and a half that it took Martha to complete her medical program, I spent about three months in the TARDIS and stoping in with SJ and Luke. I visited them every week and stayed for 3 days each time, just as I had promised Sarah Jane. In the time I spent in the TARDIS, I studied, worked on my language skills, not just Gallifreyan but other alien languages, and I fiddled with the TARDIS’s mechanisms. I had to get the feel for the machine in case something happened and I needed to repair her. The Doctor used to spend hours at a time under the consul and other places repairing her or as I was coming to believe just messing with things that didn’t need to be messed with. 

Thankfully, my baby and pregnancy were still progressing pretty similarly to human pregnancy, now I was about 26 weeks along. My bump had grown remarkably and all my regular clothes had started getting tight. It was now bigger than my breasts which had been growing as well. My leather jacket didn’t come close to closing and just hung loosely on my arms. I had to stop wearing my black skinny jeans but was still able to wear my own pants, stretchy pants but still my own pants. SJ had gotten more and more excited the more my bump popped out and was continually buying me clothes and toys for the baby. 

Over that time, I texted back and forth with both Donna and Martha. Getting to know each of them better and better, we were becoming very good friends. Soon, I wanted to get them together to meet, I wanted my new friends to meet each other. I also wanted Donna to meet Sarah Jane. Maybe I would just try and kill two birds with one stone, have them meet all together. But I’ll plan that later, tonight I have to get ready.

I was going to Martha’s celebratory dinner party that her parents were throwing for her graduating from her residency program and becoming an actual doctor. Her parents, Francine and Clive had requested that they meet me before she and I went “backpacking through Europe” which I didn’t blame that for at all. All of a sudden their daughter was hurting up her residency, had a new friend and was going to travel across the country with her (so they thought). Not to mention that they didn’t know their daughter’s new friend was pregnant and about to become a single mother. I would have to do my best to make a good impression, I didn’t want to cause any problems for Martha or her family. 

_ “You look wonderful, Wolf.”  _ Thanks. 

I had chosen a navy blue and white vertical striped dress with a white sweater to go across although it was starting to warm up in London. I made sure I had my rings on and my hair neat before I went to the consul room and put in the coordinates for SJ’s. She and I were going to the party together, Luke had bailed out with the excuse of homework but I think he just didn’t want to go. 

\-----------------

The party was held at Martha’s mother’s house, it spilled out into the backyard and was set up as a buffet/picnic type party. SJ and I had both offered to bring something but we were turned down, her mother, Francine, was very particular about her kitchen and the food she served, even Martha and her sister weren’t allowed to help. 

SJ pulled up to the house and we quickly made our way to the front door, I held a bouquet of flowers I had asked SJ to pick up for us and rung the doorbell. To my, relief Martha answered the door with a smile. 

“Rose, Sarah Jane! Come on in, please.” She waved us in and when she saw how much my bump had grown her eyes went wide. “How much time did you spend in the Vortex?” She whisper-yelled. 

“Ehh.. about 3 months. I am 6 and a half months pregnant now.” I shrugged. “I had a lot of studying and stuff to do and you have to finish your program worked to allow me to do that. SJ has already gotten mad at me for spending so much time alone but I followed her deal to a ‘t’ so she can’t say anything and besides I was texting you, and my other friend Donna the entire time.”

She didn’t look too happy about my decision but she didn’t say anything about it. “Well, I’m glad I didn’t tell my parents how pregnant you were, that would have been hard to explain.” She ushered us into the living room and we set our stuff on the couch full of other personal belongings. “Everyone is outside, I’ll introduce you two to my parents.”

Outside I could see all of Martha’s family members from the night I swept her away. I recognized her mother, Francine, and dad Clive. I didn’t see the reason for the argument that night, her father’s girlfriend. Martha’s brother and sister were talking with some of the other doctors from Martha’s program, I recognized the woman who had been panicking on the moon. There were other people here but no one I recognized, I figured if I needed to know them Martha would introduce us. 

Martha grabbed my hand and pulled me in the direction of her parents who were trying very hard to look like they weren’t fighting near the drink table. Sarah Jane staying back behind us and looking wound the small party. They stopped when they saw Martha and I coming closer though. Her mother immediately spotted my bump and her face closed off and I couldn’t read any emotion in her eyes. Her father saw it but didn’t react much. 

“Mom, Dad, this is my friend Rose. She is who I am going to be traveling with starting in a few days.” She introduced me and I reached out and shook her dad’s hand. Her mom didn’t respond to my open hand and I let it fall. 

“Nice to meet you, Rose. You guys met during that whole thing with the hospital a couple of weeks ago right. We didn’t realize that you were expecting,” He said, eyes dropping down to my baby bump. 

_ “There it is. I thought for sure it was going to be her mother.”  _ You and I both.  _ “I still don’t understand why this is such an issue, you can be pregnant and still travel with friends.”  _ Humans don’t normally start traveling the continent when pregnant, especially as pregnant as I am now. They just wanna make sure this is all legit and I’m not kidnapping Martha. “ _ If you say so..” _

“Yeah, we met during then. I had checked in to the hospital, and when everything happened Martha looked out for me and we became fast friends.” I tried to avoid the topic of my pregnancy. I knew it wasn’t going to last though.

“Were you in the hospital because of your pregnancy? How far along are you now?” Francine asked.

I kept the smile on my face and made my way through the questioning. “Yes, I was. It wasn’t anything bad, I was just experiencing some bad cramps and panicked. I’m about 6 and a half months pregnant and before you ask, my husband passed away when I was about a month along, before we even knew. It was a terrible car accident but I am being strong for my baby. And my traveling with Martha and being pregnant will be fine. She knew I was pregnant when she agreed to travel with me and besides she a certified doctor now, what could go wrong?” 

Martha was silent throughout my spiel but she supported me silently. I felt like I was meeting my boyfriend’s parents for the first time instead of my friend. But I can't blame them for being concerned about their daughter’s sudden change of plans and decisions that for them came out of nowhere. 

Her parents stared at me for a moment before her mom nodded her head and relaxed her face. "It’s nice to meet you, Rose. I'm sorry to hear about your husband, I see you brought someone else, is that your mother?" Francine said gesturing to Sarah Jane. 

I felt like I had passed a test and took a deep breath. "No, my mom died in Canary Warf. Sarah Jane is family though," I turned towards SJ who was doing her best to look like she wasn't staring. "SJ come over here."

\-----------------

After the rough beginning of meeting Martha’s parents, everything had gone really well. SJ and I talked to Martha and her parents for a while. I could tell that all the reservations they had slipped away, they could see that Martha and I were already becoming fast friends and I think they thought that I really needed someone. Not that they were wrong, but I wasn’t going to tell them that. 

The conversation followed nicely before Francine noticed someone come in and join the party. Martha gave them a wave but made no move to go talk to them. Francine and Clive both left to talk to them, leaving Martha, SJ, and I. 

“Come on, I want to introduce you guys to my brother and sister.” Martha pulled us towards them and making a better impression on them was much easier than her parents. Sarah Jane didn’t stay talking with us very long, going over and making nice with some of the other party-goers. 

Tish and Leo were both nice and similar to their sister. They all looked alike and it was very obvious that they were very close even as they got older. 

\-------------------

The party came to an end around 7 and SJ and I stayed behind to help clean up. Francine tried repeatedly to get us to relax and not help but we both continued despite it. When the house was cleaned up, we made our goodbyes and I invited Martha to lunch the next day to meet Donna. I had texted her earlier in the day and set it up, Martha agreeing, having wanted to meet Donna as well. 

SJ and I made our way back to her house; where Luke and his friends were hanging out, doing homework, and decidedly not sleuthing (not that SJ believed the lie). I was tired and already full from the party and made my way up to the guest room, skipping dinner that SJ was making for the teenagers.

I got out of the dress and into some comfy clothes I had left here last time, curled up in bed, and grabbed a book from the nightstand. I made it through a chapter before my eyes couldn’t stay open any longer and I was asleep. 

\---------------

The next afternoon I was sitting outside at a restaurant in downtown London waiting for Martha and Donna. The waitress had left a basket of breadsticks on the table and I was enjoying them with some lemonade while I waited. Both women had texted that they were on their way and I wasn’t bothered by waiting. 

_ “Bonding time.” _

Soon I heard Donna’s voice talking to the hostess. “Excuse me, I’m meeting some friends, table under Rose.”

“Right this way,” The hostess said. I turned my head to see the bright red hair of Donna following the young girl. She saw me and nearly pushed the girl out of the way to come and hug me. She pulled back startled at my baby bump but she wasn’t as surprised since she had seen me at Christmas. 

“Hi, Martian! How are you, how’s the baby, how’s the time machine?” Thankfully she whispered that last part, well a Donna whisper which was a regular speaking level. I was glad I had chosen to sit outside, Donna being a naturally loud woman. 

We sat catching up for a while, she told me all about quitting temping and trying to find a better job. Told me about her mother and her grandfather who both were proud of her for making some better moves in her life. She had cut ties with her nasty cousin and was all the better for it. In return, I told her about what I had been doing and meeting Martha, staying with Sarah Jane who I had told her about on Christmas. Before we knew it, I was having deja vu hearing Martha ask for the table.

“Table for Rose?” Martha said. The hostess was quick to point her in the right direction and Martha spotted us and quickly joined our table. 

“Hey, Rose. Hi, Donna, right?” She asked reaching out a hand. 

Donna responded with a quick greeting and we got comfortable around the table and looked at the menu. 

After the waitress had come and left with our orders, the three of us got to talking. We talked some about their individual trips with me but that wasn’t the topic of our lunch date. We talked about anything and everything. Normal things that girlfriends talked about at lunch, both Martha and Donna talked about guys they had noticed. Donna wasn’t looking for anything serious after the whole Lance thing and Martha didn’t want any commitments when she was about to leave to travel with me but that didn’t stop them from noticing. By the time the food arrived, the three of us were fast friends just as I had hoped we would be. 

The food was delicious and I was starving, the baby was making me hungry all the time anymore. Thankfully I didn’t have a lot of weird cravings, although I couldn’t stomach any chips which was by far the worst side effect of being pregnant. I couldn’t even have my favorite foods. We stayed sitting there, long after our lunch plates had been cleared, I ordered dessert which made me feel slightly better for holding up a table. Previous experience as a waitress led me to leave a good tip behind. 

After we left the restaurant we walked around downtown London, still chatting and genuinely enjoying our time. By 5 o’clock Donna had to leave, she was having dinner with her mother and grandfather. Before she left we created a group chat and promised to keep in touch. I had no problem with that, I was already keeping in touch with Donna so it wasn’t gonna be hard. 

Martha and I parted ways soon after, and I promised to be at her apartment tomorrow with the TARDIS. She was going to be “moving in” and we would leave to travel the universe and time tomorrow. Once she was out of my sight, I made my way back to SJ for the night. 

\---------------

Martha’s apartment was small but colorful, fitting her personality and the fact that she was a med student. Or just stopped being a med student. Most of her stuff was already packed up and taken back to her mom’s house. She was getting out of her lease and coming to live on the TARDIS, so she had no need for an apartment right now. 

The walls were painted a light blue, akin to what her bedroom door in the TARDIS had turned this morning. She had a couple of suitcases and bags packed up next to the couch that came with the apartment and it didn’t take us long to get them deposited into her room. She had beamed at the color of her room and given the wall in the hallway a loving pat in thanks. 

After that, we were in the consul room and ready to go. She sat on the pilot’s seat excited and I turned the dials and knobs to the random mode and pulled down the lever. Within seconds we were flying through space and time and off to our next destination. Wherever that may be.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave some love in the form of kudos, comments, and bookmarks!


	15. Didn't I Kill Them All?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the episode ark will be 3 chapters, this is 1/3. Let me know what you think.
> 
> Leave some love in the form of comments, kudos, and bookmarks!

**Chapter 15**

**Rose**

**Didn’t I Kill Them All?**

I felt the slight change in pressure in the TARDIS as we landed. Destination still unknown, we headed for the doors. We came out on a small island and looked around, there was no one else around. 

“Ohh that’s chilly, nice ocean breeze,” I said as we looked out at the water around the island. 

“ _ Do you wanna know?”  _ No, let us figure it out. “ _ Boring…” _

I turned around and found a pretty good landmark indicating where we were, the Statue of Liberty was standing tall behind us. Martha was still looking at the water and I drew her attention towards it. 

“Martha have you met my new friend?” I pointed up to Lady Liberty. `

“Oh my gosh, that’s the Statue of Liberty!” Martha said excitedly.

“That’s the gateway to a whole new world. “Give me your tired, your poor, you huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”” I quoted the memorialized phrase. 

‘This is brilliant, I always wanted to come to New York. Now I have been to the original and the 15th version. There has to be something poetic in there somewhere.”

We turned away from the Lady Liberty and towards the city across New York Harbor. “There’s the real thing for ya. New York City, New York. So nice they named it twice.” 

“I wonder what year it is?” Martha asked as she walked with me. “Look the Empire State Building’s not even finished yet.

“ _ Can I tell you yet?”  _ No. “ _ You are so boring, Wolf….”  _ You’ll get over it.  _ “No, I won’t.”  _ While I was talking with the TARDIS in my head, Martha walked over to a bench and found a newspaper. 

“They still have a couple of floors to go, according to my history book that lives in my head pretty well that puts us somewhere in the ’30s.”

Martha cut me off before I could get more specific, “November 1st, 1930.”

“Oh well, that’s not fair. You cheated.” I pouted as she read the newspaper headlines. The baby gave me a strong kick agreeing with me. My hand flew to my stomach to rub the spot, the kicking was a shock every time I felt it, even though it had been happening for a while. 

“It’s crazy this is stuff you see in old newsreels, not actually real things. This is so cool. This stuff is actually real, it’s happening now.” Martha’s disbelief was fun to listen to but my attention was drawn to the newspaper in her hands. She let it go without a fuss as she kept talking. I saw on the front page the appeal for our arrival here, New York had a mystery that needs solving. 

“ _ This is bound to be an interesting adventure. The readings coming out of New York are otherworldly, though I can’t tell which world yet. They are managing to conceal it so far.”  _ You are so predictable. “ _ Thank you.” _

“Found out why we came here on random,” I showed Martha the headline. 

**HOOVERVILLE MYSTERY DEEPENS**

“What’s a Hooverville?” Martha asked. 

I gestured to the dock where a ferry was waiting to take us back to the mainland. “I’ll tell you as we go, it’s time you learn so American history.” I pulled my larger, fancy navy coat tight around me. The TARDIS had left it for me in my closet this morning, apparently, it had a miniature version of the chameleon technology that kept people from noticing my pregnancy. It was a good idea, people probably wouldn’t trust a pregnant woman trying to solve all their problems, the last thing I needed to be told was that I was fragile and shouldn’t be doing my job.

\----------------

As we sat on the ferry and then later walked on through Central Park, I gave Martha a history lesson. Some I knew from before but most I drew from the TARDIS’s knowledge back that now lived in my head. 

“Herbert Hoover, 31st president of the USA, came to power a year ago. Up till then, New York was a booming toon, the roaring twenties, and then…” I trailed off looking at Martha.

“The stock market crash, that was 1929, right?” She said as we walked. 

“Yup, the whole economy wiped out overnight, nothing could stop it. Thousands of people unemployed and then people couldn’t make rent. Those homeless and others down on their luck had nowhere to go, so they end up here in Hoovervilles. A lot of them are here in Central Park but there are Hoovervilles all over the country.”

“People live here, in the park?” Martha asked. 

I didn’t answer her, I could see the beginnings of the camp ahead and lead her towards it. As we neared I saw people cooking, chatting, doing other everyday chores, sitting outside their tents. Before we knew it we were deep in the camp, people looking at us. We looked pretty clean for the camp, I’m sure that drew some attention. 

“All of these people are just regular blokes and ladies lost their jobs, they lost their jobs and then lost everything. No one is helping them, especially not President Hoover, hence the name Hooverville. People only come here when they have nowhere else to go.” I explained as we walked through the camp. 

Before she could respond a man came screaming at another man, before I knew it the men were fighting. Other men tried to pull them apart but it didn’t do anything, they just kept going. I heard one of the men yell about some bread and figured this was a dispute about food which is to be expected here. They were all starving here in Hoovervilles. 

A black man left a tent and fixed his hat on his head before yelling at the men, “Cut that out!” 

The first time he said it didn’t do anything. He tried again, “Cut it out, right now!” He got in there and pulled one of the men back. Other men from the camp grabbed the other guy and held him back. 

“He stole my bread!” The man who had started the fight screamed.

“That’s enough,” the man in charge said. He turned to the other fighter, “Did you take it?”

The second guy tried to play it off, “I don’t know what happened, he just went crazy.” His words prompted the man to attack him again. 

“That’s enough,” The leader pushed them apart again. Martha and I walked closer to hear more. He looked at both men, “Now you better think real hard before lying to me.” 

The second guy took a second before saying, “I’m starving Solomon.”

The leader, Solomon apparently held his hand out to him. He didn’t hesitate to pull a loaf of bread out of his coat and give it to him. 

“We all starving. We all got family somewhere.” Solomon said as he ripped the loaf in two and gave one to each man. “No stealing and no fighting. You know the rules. Thirteen years ago, I fought in the great war. A lot of us did. And the only reason we got through because we stuck together. No matter how bad things get, we still act like human beings. It’s all we got.” He stared for a moment after his impromptu speech ended then each turned and walked in separate directions, each holding half a loaf. 

“ _ He looks like someone you should meet, he might be able to help you figure out what’s happening here.”  _ Yeah, that’s what I thought too.

I turned to Martha, “Come on, we should go meet him.” She nodded and we followed behind Solomon, walking up to talk to him. 

“I suppose you are the boss-man here,” I said as I walked up to him. 

He looked at Martha and me sadly, “Welcome ladies, who might you be?”

Martha answered for us, “She’s Lady Wolf and I’m Martha.”

“A Lady, here in Hooverville, well these hard times are really hitting everyone. We got men from all kinds of influential jobs, lawyers, stockbrokers, and women from all kinds of life but you are the first noble person. Why come here from England, it’s not as bad over there?”

“You can call me Rose, I travel around and try and help people, just because I am a Lady doesn’t mean I don’t see people in need. How many people live here?” We stood close to a firepit and warmed our hands as we spoke. 

“Hundreds, at any one time. No place else to go. People come and go through. But the one good thing about this place is that we are a truly equal society. Black, white, poor, rich, common, or lady. We are all the same here, all starving. Both of you are welcome to stay if that’s what you plan on doing.” Solomon told us. 

Martha looked up at the Empire State Building still a work in progress, standing tall over the camps. Solomon followed her eyes and shook his head in disdain. 

“I just can’t understand, that there is going to be the tallest building in the world. How can they do that but hundreds of people are starving here in the heart of Manhattan.”

Neither Martha nor I had an answer for him and he didn’t seem surprised. He shrugged his shoulders and walked off into the heart of the camp. 

\-------------------

After a couple of hours wandering around the village Martha and I clicked back to where we had met Solomon. He was putting out a fire when we walked up to speak to him.

“Is it true, what the papers say? Men going missing?” I held the paper up to show him. 

He nodded his head, “Yeah, it’s true.” He turned and entered his tent, gesturing for us to follow him. 

“What does it mean? Missing? You already told us people come and go all the time. I doubt you guys keep a sign-in sheet.” I said as we huddled in his tent. 

“That’s true too, but this is different. A different kind of missing.” He said looking at the paper. 

“ _ The kidnapping kind of missing probably.”  _ That what I am thinking too.

“Different how?” Martha asked.

“Someone takes them, at night. We hear something, someone calling out for help. But by the time we get there, they’re gone. Like the vanish into thin air.” Solomon said dejectedly. 

“And you’re positive someone’s taking them?” I asked, needing to make sure.

“My Lady, these people are leaving what little items they still own. Knife, blanket, whatever you got. No one here, as down on our luck as we are would leave their stuff and vanish into the night of their own free will.”

_ “This is definitely leading somewhere. I still can’t get a read on the energy signals coming off Earth but they are coming from the Empire State Building.”  _ Why is it always famous landmarks?  _ “Hehe, they are good hiding places, apparently. I’ll keep looking.” _

“Have you been to the police?” Martha questioned. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that they wouldn’t have done anything.

Solomon didn’t have a problem telling her that. “Yeah, we tried that. Another deadbeat goes missing, big deal.”

“So the major question is who’s taking them and what for?” I asked, finally coming back to the central problem. 

Before either of them could respond a young boy ran into the tent screaming for Solomon. “Solomon! Solomon, Mr. Diagoras is here.”

Solomon wasted no time jumping up and following the boy out of the tent. Martha and I followed, curious, investigative. 

By the time we got out there, there was a nice crowd forming around 3 men in suits. The man in the middle was standing on a small platform, talking to the residents of Hooverville. I assumed he was Mr. Diagoras.

“I need men, volunteers. I’ve got a little work for you. And you sure look like you could use the money.” He said.

The boy who had run into Solomon’s tent spoke up, “Yeah, what is the money?”

“A dollar a day.” Mr. Diagoras said. None of the crowd were too happy with that. 

“What’s the work?” A voice from the crowd called out. 

“A little trip down the sewers.” The businessman said. “Got a tunnel collapsed, needs clearing and fixing. Any takers?”

Solomon spoke up, “A dollar a day is a slave wage. And the men don’t always come back up, do they?”

“Accidents happen.” Diagoras tried to play it off. 

I wasn’t having that. “What kind of accidents?”

“Nothing to concern yourself with little lady, go on back to the fire pit and children, this is men’s work.” He said to me.

_ “Well, that’s sexist. Humans are so primitive to let gender roles rule their lives.”  _ Oh, I agree, and this is 80 years from my time. It’s only slightly better then.

“Anybody else? Enough questions,” He said when he saw me raise my hand.

“Oh no, I’m volunteering. And before you say this is men’s work, I need the money, and if I die then that fewer payments for you so, I’m going.” I said, nudging Martha who also raised her hand.

“This is stupid, Rose,” Martha muttered under her breath, I just smirked. 

“ _ I do say, I agree with her. Not that I think you can’t handle it though.”  _ Thanks for the vote of confidence.  _ “Sure.” _

I could see Solomon looking at me like I was crazy before he to raised his hand. The boy from before following soon after.

\-----------------

Down in the sewers, it was actually Diagoras to show us down. I would have guessed he’d have one of his lackeys do it.

“Turn left, go about half a mile, follow tunnel 273, the fall’s right ahead of you. You can’t miss it.” He pointed in the right direction for us to go. 

The boy whose name I had learned was Frank on the way to the sewer spoke up. “And when do we get out dollar?”

“When you come back up,” Diagoras said only slightly menacing. 

“And if we don’t come back up?” I asked. 

“Like you said, little lady. One less person for me to pay.” He said throwing my words back in my face. Not that it mattered. I didn’t plan on staying down here, even if I wasn’t immortal. 

“Don’t worry, we’ll be back,” Solomon said shining his torch in Diagoras’s face. Martha and I both had smoother our smiles at the Terminator reference over 50 years before it would come out. 

“Let’s hope so,” Martha said, her previous smile gone. With that our little group moved into the sewers, I held back staring at Diagoras, before turning and joining the back of the group. 

Frank’s voice spoke into the sound of water droplets and our footsteps. “We just gotta stay together. It’s easy to get lost. It’s like a huge rabbit warren. You could hide an army down here.” 

“ _ Oh, don’t jinx us.”  _ Too late for that. 

As we walked, Martha and Frank talked. I didn’t hear all their conversations but enough of it to get the gist. They talked about where they were from and how they ended up in New York. I walked ahead of them with Solomon and questioned him about Diagoras.

“Who is this guy? Diagoras?” 

“Couple of months ago, just another foreman. Now it’s like he is running most of Manhattan.” He explained.

“Well that doesn’t just happen overnight, wonder how that came to be,” I said trying to think of possibilities. Unfortunately, the only thing I could come up with was that he was being used as a front for whatever alien activity was happening here. And that, of course, most likely meant we were walking into a trap.

“These are strange times,” Solomon said. “A man can go from the King of the Hill to the lowest of the low overnight, why can’t it happen in reverse too?” 

“Guess you’re right,” I said but before I stopped quick. “Whoa! What is that?” I shined my torch down on something almost gelatin-like on the sewer floor. It was green, slimy, and almost translucent, it almost looked like a brain but not quite. 

“ _ There are gloves in your jacket.”  _ Thank god, I didn’t want to just pick it up as he would have. “ _ I figured.” _

I crochet down to examine it while pulling the gloves out and on. Martha leaned down to join me, looking jealous at the gloves.

“Is it radioactive or something?” She asked. Solomon and Frank staying back in disgust, I heard someone gag but I wasn’t sure who. It was giving off a rather awful smell, Martha plugged her nose next to me. “It’s gone off, whatever it is.” She said. 

I ignored her and picked it up. Holding it up, trying to defer what it was, nothing in my bank of knowledge coming up. Sister as confused as I was momentary. 

“At least you have gloves,” Martha said disgustedly. I was tempted to tell her what the Doctor would have done if he were here but she was already too grossed out, so I refrained. 

“Do me a favor, shine your torch through it.” I held it up for her and she did as I asked. “It’s a composite organic matter.” I looked at her, “Dr. Jones, medical opinion?”

“Alien.” She said bluntly. 

“Very astute, anything more?” I said sarcastically, before standing up still holding the thing. “I reckon that we have gone at least a half-mile in, I haven’t seen any sign of collapse yet, have you?” Everyone in our small group nodded and looked around suspiciously. 

“ _ Definity, part of a trap. Please put that thing in a bag before you put it in your pocket? Remember I am connected to your pockets.”  _ Yeah, sure. 

I turned to Martha, “Hey, can you reach in my pocket and pull out the bag in it? I need to bring this with us, I have to figure out what it is.” 

She didn’t look too excited at me bringing it with us but did as I asked and held the bag open for me to shove it in there. 

I kept talking to the guys as we did the bag maneuver. “I don’t see any signs of a collapse, do you?” They both shook their heads. “So why did Diagoras send us down here?”

“What’s above us?” Martha asked. 

After a quick check with the endless maps in my head, “We are right under Manhattan.” 

\-------------

We kept walking, trying to find our way back but even the maps in my head couldn’t tell this maze apart. 

“There is no collapse, nothing,” Solomon said after at least another mile. 

“I fear this might have been a trap, whatever is taking people, I think we might be in the thick of it.” I didn’t want to keep the group in the dark. “Something else is happening here besides a collapsed tunnel.”

I considered having Solomon take Martha and Fran back to the ladder and up to the main ground again but I knew Martha wouldn’t leave. And I also knew these men were too gentlemanly to leave two women in the tunnel walking into a trap. So I didn’t bother. Suddenly the sounds of the sewers were interrupted by the sound of something squealing. 

“What was that?” Solomon asked quickly.

“Hello,” Frank called. He was quick to be shushed but that didn’t deter him. “What if it’s one of the folks gone missing?” He asked hushed. “You’d be scared, half-mad down here on your own. Heck, we ain’t seen no bodies down here. Maybe they just got lost.”

I didn’t want to crush his hope but I doubted any of them were still alive. “ _ That is the most likely case. It’s terrible though, we will just have to save who we can.”  _ I know, but we gotta do our best.

Before I could come up with a good response to Frank, the squealing sound happened again.

“I ain’t here any creature make a sound like that,” Solomon said. 

“Where’s it coming from?” Frank asked, giving up his false hope. I shined my torch down one hallway, looking for the source. “It sounds like there is more than one of them.” Frank continued.

“It’s coming from this way,” I said. 

Solomon stopped me, “No, it’s this way.” He shined his torch down another hallway and I could see a crouched form up against the far wall. 

“Rose,” Martha implored, trying to get me over towards them. I was quick to get in front of them. 

I inched closer, “Who are you?”

“ _ Rose, be careful. You may be immortal but you can still be hurt.” _

The creature didn’t respond. 

“Careful, Lady Wolf,” Solomon cautioned. 

Frank spoke up behind me, “Are you lost? Can you understand me?” 

The creature made pig-like noises and based on what I could see through the shadows, that was disconcerting. I reached down and pulled my sonic out of my boot, scanning towards the creature. 

_ “It’s too far away, I can’t get a read yet.”  _

I moved closer to it, “Stay back guys, let me have a look.” I told the others, none of them made any move to come with me. 

I then directed my words towards the creature, unsure if it could understand me still. “My mate, he’s got a point though. I’d hate to be stuck down here on my own, I know what it’s like to be lost and alone. I can bring you with us, I know the way out, towards daylight. Do you wanna come with us?” 

As I got closer, I saw the pig-like noises weren’t the only pig-like thing about this creature. It had the body of a human and a pig head, it was obvious the pig head had once been human as well. I discreetly scanned it with my sonic, grateful that it was silent and didn’t spook the creature.

“ _ What manner of experimentation did it take to get that? The scans say it used to be human but now is nothing better than a humanoid pig. It has no semblance of human intelligence, and it’s dying. This poor creature, it’s lifespan can’t be more than a few days.”  _

My heart was breaking for the being in front of me, there was nothing I could do for it. Short of putting it out of its misery and I’m not strong enough for that yet.

“I’m so sorry that this happened to you,” I said as I shined the light in his face. The light must have been good because Solomon and Frank gasped when they saw him. 

“Is that some kind of carnival mask?” Solomon asked. 

“No, it’s real.” I turned back to the former man. “I promise I can help, maybe not you anymore but I will help the rest of you. Whatever did this too will be stopped.” 

“Rose, I think you need to get back here. Get away from him.” Martha called from behind me. I looked up to see more pig-creatures filling the hallway ahead of me. They were closing in on me and I was quick to get up and back away. They followed my movements as I backed up. 

“They are following you, Rose,” Martha said nervously. 

“Really, I didn’t notice. Thanks.” Finally, I was close enough to the group that I could reach back and grab Martha’s hand. I did just that, she grasped mine tightly. “Uh, Martha, Gentlemen, I think that it is time for us to….uhh…. Run!”

No one behind me thought twice before doing as I said, the hoard of pig creatures surging after us instantly. Martha led the pack but no one knew where we were going, we ran and turned down any hallway where there were no pig-men. Thankfully they were behind us, I pushed myself ahead of the group and lead the way. Suddenly out of the corner of my eye I saw a ladder leading up to the ground level.

“There’s a ladder, let’s go!” I waved my hand behind my head, bringing them up with us. I raced up the ladder, glad my sonic was still in my hand from scanning the pigman before. I finished sonicing the manhole open just as Martha hopped up the ladder behind me, Solomon and Frank only centimeters behind her. 

As I helped pulled Martha up behind me, I heard Solomon calling for Frank. The pig creatures squealing from below. Solomon climbed up the ladder and turned to help Frank up before he had even really gotten out of the manhole. Martha got down on the floor to help him pull him up but the pigs had gotten ahold of him and he slipped from both Martha and Solomon’s grips. I could only stand there and watch as they screamed and tried to hold on but the noise the pigs were making told me that there were too many of them. Suddenly Solomon pushed Martha back and pulled the cover of the manhole back into place, I caught sight of a pig creature crawling up the ladder and jumped in the sonic the manhole shut. 

_ “If the creatures have him, then there is no recovering him.” _

“Frank!” Martha shouted.

“No! We can’t go back for him, there are too many of them!” Solomon said keeping her from trying to open it.

“Rose,” She looked at me pleadingly. 

“He’s gone,” I said panting, shaking my head. “There are too many of them.”

“I won’t let either of you go down there. I am not losing anyone else to these creatures from hell. Especially two women and a pregnant one at that!” Solomon shouted as he stood on top of the manhole cover. “There is nothing we can do!”

I looked down to see my coat had come unbuckled during the escape from the pig creatures. I resisted the urge to pull the jacket back, knowing that it was too late.

_ “I’m sorry, Wolf.”  _ Thanks, Sister.

Martha looked down at the manhole despondent.

But before we could say anything a blonde woman holding a gun popped out from behind a shelf.

“All right then, put ‘em up!” She commanded in with her New York accent in full force. None of us hesitated to comply but she still continued to yell at us. “Hand’s in the air and no funny business.” She cocked the gun back, “Now, tell me, you shmucks, what have you done with Laszlo?”

“Who’s Laszlo?” Martha asked distracting the blonde while I was subtly placing Solomon in front of my baby belly, he nods in approval at my action. I hated using someone else as a shield but I needed to keep my child safe and keep my pregnancy in the dark. 

\----------------

“Laszlo’s my boyfriend, or was my boyfriend until he disappeared two weeks ago?” The Blonde says as she brushes some more blush on her face. She dropped the brush and looked over to us, still holding the gun towards us. I had managed to button my jacket up and didn’t need to use Solomon as a shield anymore.

“No letter, no goodbye, no nothing. And I’m not stupid. I know some guys are just pigs but not my Laszlo.” She waved the gun around willy nilly and despite knowing I was immortal, I was nervous. Martha and Solomon weren’t, even blondie wasn’t. 

“I mean, what kind of guy asks you to meet his mom before he vamooses?” She asks finally holding the gun still. It was pointed at me but it at least was still and I took the moment to try and get her to put it down.

“Would you mind, uh, putting that down? I can try and help you figure out what happened to Laszlo if you would just put that down.” I waved my hand down at the gun, gesturing for her to lower it.

“Huh?” She looked confused at the gun in my hand before scoffing. “Oh, sure.” She threw it onto a pile of clothes carelessly and the three of us all flinched. “Oh, come on, it’s not real. It’s just a prop.” She waved her hands like it was nothing. “It was either that or a spear.”

“ _ Wow, she is a lot.”  _ No kidding.

Martha moved up closer to talk to her. “What do you think happened to Laszlo?”

“I wish I knew. One minute he’s there, the next, zip, vanished.” She explained irritated, giving off the universal women vibe of “Why do I even bother with men?”

“What’s your name?” I asked her as we stood in the doorway of her dressing room.

“Tallulah.” She said. “Three ‘l’s’ and an ‘h’.”

“Right, ok. We can try and find Laszlo, but he is not the only one who is missing. People are missing, disappearing every night. Laszlo is only one of many.”

“And there are creatures. Such creatures…” Solomon spoke up ominously. 

Tallulah looked intrigued. I doubt she really had any idea what he was actually trying to convey. “What do you mean, creatures?”

“Look, just trust me,” I said bringing her attention back to me. “Everyone is in danger.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out the bag filled with slimy, green, gunk. “I need to find out exactly what this thing is. Because then I’ll know exactly what we’re fighting.”

Tallulah looked disgusted at the bag of gunk. “Yeuch!”

\-------------------

I found my way to the prop and storeroom of what I had learned to be a small theater. There was plenty of lights and things I can take apart and rebuild into a machine to figure out what the green gunk is. 

Solomon found me in there and held out a clock. “How bought this? I found it backstage.” 

“Perfect,” I said taking it from him. “It’ll have the capacitors I need.” I opened up the back of the clock and pulled out the pieces I needed. “I’m rigging up a crud DNA scanner, I need to figure out what the gunk is. If I can scan it right, then I can figure out where it’s from.” I used my sonic to unhook some of the machinery from the clock. 

“How bout you, Lady Wolf? Where are you from?” Solomon asked, holding the front of his coat closed. “I been all over, I never heard anybody talk like you. Just who are you exactly?”

“From London me. Same as Martha. But now we just travel around.” I said as I pulled a piece out of the clock and blew the dust off it. 

“ _ Haha, you’re not wrong.”  _ Hush. 

“Alright, I believe that on some point but there is more to you Lady Wolf. If you don’t want to tell me then you don’t have to. I haven’t asked too many questions, I won’t ask about your pregnancy or anything else that you don’t want to tell me.” He nodded his head and then walked past me and back to the manhole we had come up through before. I followed behind him and we stopped next to it. 

“I was scared, Rose. I let ‘em take Frank ‘cause I was just so scared.” He looked at me ashamed. “I got to get back to Hooverville. With those creatures lose, we got to protect ourselves. And no one else gonna is helping us.” He said as he walked away from the manhole and out of the prop room.

“Good luck,” I said to his back as he walked away. 

He turned back to look at me, “I hope you find what you are looking for. For all our sakes.”

“Thank you, Solomon. I hope I do too.” I nodded at him then went back to my machine tinkering. 

\---------------------

I was in one of the unused theaters, using the empty space as my lab. I turned one of the spotlights on towards my scanner and the gunk. “That’s it, I just need to heat you up.” I sat down to the gunk and rubbed my cloaked belly while I waited.

_ “How are you doing Sister?”  _ Not bad, this is certainly an interesting stop. I just need to figure out what this stuff is. “ _ The DNA scanner is coming through now.”  _

I had connected my sonic to the scanner so She was able to read the data with me. “ _ It’s reading as artificial.”  _ Artificial, genetically engineered gunk? Ok, not super weird. “ _ Turn the scanner up a notch.”  _ I did as she said, I could hear the show starting in the other theater. I assumed Martha was watching Tallulah perform. 

“ _ Whatever this is, they are clever. Very smart, able to hide their identifying markers. Well, conceal them, anyone can find the information if they look hard enough. It’s coming through, just a moment. _

_ “Fundamental DNA type 467-989.”  _ The Old Girl read off to me as she analyzed it. 

“989. Wait I know that planet designation. Planet of origin...Skaro.” All at once even as I said it, fear shot through my heart. Along with fear, anger, and disappear were present. Even before my Bad Wolf Evolution, I had known enough about the Doctor and his worst enemies to know what planet they came from. I had remembered ever since Utah and the first Dalek I had ever met, with my first Doctor. I jumped up from the theater seat I was sitting in and raced to find Martha, just barely managing to unhook my sonic from the DNA Scanner.

I ran backstage and into a gaggle of women in sparkly red outfits, they must have been performers in the show. Tallulah stood out in the group, the only one in white. 

I ran up to her, “Where is she? Where’s Martha?” I held myself back from shaking her while I waited for her to answer. She had no idea how awful the situation was and didn’t deserve any of my anger.

“I don’t know. She ran off stage.” She told me, her New York accent coming out full force. Before I could figure out something else to ask, a scream rang out. My heart plummeted, it was Martha, the same scream she let out when she was taken on New Earth. 

_ “Oh no! Martha!” _

I ran in the direction of the scream. 

I found myself in the prop room from before and found it empty. The manhole cover wasn’t closed like it was before and I knew deep in my bones that she had been taken. 

Tallulah appeared next to me, I hadn’t seen her follow me. “Oh, where are you going?”

“They’ve taken her,” I said resolutely as I leaned down and moved the manhole cover farter off.

“Who’s taken her? What are you doing?” Tallulah called to me. 

I didn’t listen to her and made my way down into the tunnels. 

“I said what the hell are you doing?” Tallulah called again down the manhole. I could hear her mumbling to herself before suddenly she was climbing down the ladder wearing a coat she wasn’t before. 

_ “She’s determined.”  _

“No, no, no, no, no. You are not coming.” I told her trying to get her back up the ladder.

“Tell me what’s going on.” She said to me. 

“There is nothing you can do, please go back Tallulah.” I nearly begged her, I really didn’t want to put anyone else in danger.

“Look whoever’s taken Martha, they could have taken Laszlo, couldn’t they?” She said to me. 

“You won’t be safe down here,” I told her trying to get her to see sense.

“Why, because I a woman? You can’t talk, Lady. My safety is my problem. Come on, which way?” She was right, I couldn’t tell her not to come and she was right, she was in charge of her own safety.

I didn’t answer her fast enough and she went walking down the left tunnel. “Wrong way,” I called to her. She silently followed me down the tunnel, sticking close to me and my torch. 

We walked down the tunnels, past sewage, and eventually under a half lower gate. Tallulah had been quietly following me down the tunnels, I didn’t know where I was going but I was following my instinct. 

“When you say they’ve taken her, who’s they, exactly?” She asked. “And who are you, anyway? I never asked.” 

“Name’s Lady Rose Wolf but shh…” I hushed, I had noticed something further ahead.

“Okay..sorry.” She said quietly for once.

I could see a shadow coming, something large with something pointing horizontally from the top. I knew even before the shadow was fully defined that it was a Dalek. I shoved Tallulah and me into a shadowy alcove. It moved right past us, not even seeming to see us. I felt a wave of anger pulse through me from the Old Girl, my own anger matching it. The Daleks had done enough to me over my time traveling, along with the secondhand anger I felt for the Doctor and all the pain they had caused him.

“God, I had hoped I was wrong,” I said in despair. 

“ _ As did I, Sister.”  _ Didn’t I kill all the Daleks on Station 5? Bad Wolf and all that? “ _ I thought so too, obviously some survived. I don’t know how many.”  _ That’s not comforting. 

We inched out of the alcove as the Dalek turned the corner. I stared after it while Tallulah freaked out next to me. “These things are worse than cockroaches, they never die.”

“That metal thing, what was it?” Tallulah asked, not picking up on my disdain.

I stared after it, still paralyzed in fear and anger. “It’s called a Dalek. The metal is just a casing for something alive and terrible”

“You’re kidding me,” Tallulah said disbelievingly.

I could have reacted with anger but I just starred; the emotions boiling over into a cold numb. “I’m not kidding.” She must have seen something in me because she didn’t say anything else. “Inside that shell is a creature born to hate. Their only thought is to destroy everything and anything that is not Dalek. They have destroyed planets, lives, and other countless things including “killing” my husband.”

_ “That’s putting it lightly.” _

“Destroyed planets? Like other planets? Outer Space planets? Like aliens?” Tallulah picked one thing out of my speech and fixed on it. I knew why she did that, it was easier to deal with terrifying things when you ignored them.

I stayed silent throughout her questions and she understood that the answer to all of that was “yes”. She was shivering but I don’t think it was from the cold. 

“Oy! Well, what’s it doing here in New York?” She asked.

“That’s what I intend to find out,” I said resolutely.

\-----------------

After a while, we had kept moving down the tunnels and through the sewers. Now that I knew what we were dealing with I was planning on how to deal with them. The only problem with that plan was I didn’t know what they were doing yet. Tallulah still freaking out about aliens, space, and Daleks was quiet as we walked. I had considered trying to send her back now that she knew what we were dealing with but resisted. The last thing I wanted was her roaming down here alone. 

We rounded another corner and came face to face with another pigman. Tallulah screamed and I didn’t blame her, it was her first pigman. Although this one was different, he looked more human than the other ones we had seen. At Tallulah’s scream, he turned and hid his face in the shadows of the far end of the tunnel.

I needed to question him anyway. “Where’s Martha? What have you done with her?” I walked quickly closer to the pigman, getting in his space. “What have you done with Martha?”

“I didn’t take her.” He said, still hiding in the wall.

I was shocked he had the ability to respond. The first one hadn’t even seemed to understand me. “Can you remember your name?” I asked him.

“Don’t look at me!” He said instead. 

Tallulah started closing the distance from where I had left her. I could hear her heels on the floor but I was focused on the pigman in front of me. “Do you know where she is?”

“Stay back! Don’t look at me.” He was getting agitated, trying to shove himself more and more into the wall. 

“What happened to you?” I asked him, trying to distract him from Tallulah.

“They made me a monster.” He turned and looked at me, looking completely away from Tallulah.

“Who made you into a monster?”

“The Masters.”

_ “Well, the Dalek’s are certainly getting cocky.” _ Yeah, seriously.

“The Dalek’s then. Why?” I asked my anger burning through my previous numb.

“They needed slaves. They needed slaves to steal more people, so they created us, part human, part animal. I escaped before they got my mind but it was still too late.” He explained.

“Do you know what happened to Martha?” I asked. 

“They took her, it’s my fault. She was following me.” He said sadly. 

_ “She is a curious one, but she should have waited for you.”  _ I should have told her not to run off without me. Maybe we should find out someway to track her, in case she gets lost. It happened 2 out of 3 times during her trips.  _ “I’m sure I can find something but we should talk to her about it.  _ Oh of course. I would never track her without telling her.

Tallulah spoke up, jarring me out of our conversation. “Were you in the theater?

“I never...Yes.” He started out denying but didn’t make it very far before coming clean.

_ “Laszlo.”  _ Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking.  _ “This is getting interesting.”  _ I’m gonna stay out of this, this seems like a them thing.

“Why? Why were you there?” Tallulah was getting upset.

“I never wanted you to see me like this.” He said upset,

“Why me? What I got to do with this?” She asked confused. “Were you following me? Is that why you were there?”

The man I assumed to be Laszlo turned around, away from the wall, and stood up straight. “Yes.”

Tallulah’s eyes went wide and I think on some level, she understood. “Who are you?”

“I was lonely.”

“Who are you?”

“I needed to see you.”

“Who are you?” She continued to ask, unable to accepted it without actual proof. 

“I’m sorry.” He turned away.

“No, wait.” She reached out a grabbed his arm. “Let me look at you.” She pushed him into the light shining down from the tunnels. 

He let her move him but he obviously didn’t want to. She looked at him, staring at him with wide eyes. Searching, she must have found what she was looking for though. 

“Laszlo?” She asked quietly. He nodded his head. “My Laszlo?” Her face scrunched up and I could tell she was fighting back tears. “What have they done to you?” She tried to fix his collar, once again fixating on something else.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” He said, what he was apologizing for I wasn’t sure. 

I stepped forward, ending their private moment. “Laszlo, can you show me where they are?”

“They’ll kill you, lady.” He said nervously.

“I’m a lot tougher than I look and if I don’t stop them, they’ll kill everyone else.” It was gonna take some getting used to, everyone trying to take care of me cause I’m a woman. I should spend more time in the future where archaic gender roles are less imposed. 

I guess what I said was enough for him to believe me, Tallulah helpfully giving him a nod when he looked at her questioningly. “Then follow me.” He nodded his head towards another tunnel and we followed him down it. 

\----------------

We turned down a tunnel before I heard the telltale sound of Dalek’s. They were speaking but I could hear pig squeals and humans freaking out. I could only hope Martha was part of the group. I peeked around the corner but couldn’t see anything past the pigmen.

“YOU WILL FORM A LINE! MOVE! MOVE!” The Dalek commanded.

Martha’s voice came out from the din and for a moment I was relieved until I remembered she was surrounded by Daleks and pigmen. “Just do what it says, everyone, okay? Just obey.”

_ “Smart. She knows how to read a room.” _

“THE FEMALE IS WISE. OBEY! REPORT! THESE ARE STRONG SPECIMENS. THEY WILL HELP THE DALEK CAUSE. WHAT IS THE STATUS OF THE FINAL EXPERIMENT?” The Dalek said.

Another Dalek came out from the other side of the group and responded. “THE DALEKENIUM IS IN PLACE. THE ENERGY CONDUCTOR IS NOW COMPLETE.”

“ _ Well, that’s certainly not good. What they need that for, I fear to think.” _

“THEN I WILL EXTRACT PRISONERS FOR SELECTION.” It turned towards the men being held by pigmen. “INTELLIGENCE SCAN - INITIATE. READING BRAINWAVES. LOW INTELLIGENCE.”

“You calling me stupid?” A man said I assumed it was the one who had just been declared low intelligence.

“SILENCE! THIS ONE WILL BECOME A PIG SLAVE. NEXT.”

_ “ _ No. let go of me! I’m not becoming one of them!” his voice got further and further away as he shouted. They must have been moving him. 

The Dalek intelligence scan routine continued its way through the prisoners. Some got high intelligence, some got low. I wondered what the high intelligence was being used for. Laszlo began explaining what I had already figured out but I listened anyway, he might know something else.

“They are divided into two groups. Low and high Intelligence. The low intelligence become pig slaves, like me.” Tallulah interrupted him with a huff but we shushed her quickly.

“And the others?’ I asked him.

“They’re taken to the laboratory.” He said.

“Why? What for?” There is a piece of the puzzle I needed.

“I don’t know, I never made it that far. The Masters only call it the final experiment.”

Martha’s voice rang out from the crowd. “You can’t just experiment on people. It’s insane! It’s inhuman!” 

_ “Wrong thing to say, Martha. They hate humans.”  _

“WE ARE NOT HUMAN. PRISONERS OF HIGH INTELLIGENCE WILL BE TAKEN TO THE TRANSGENIC LABORATORY.” The Dalek commanded before it started to come our way. 

I pushed Laszlo and Tallulah back. “Look out, they’re moving.” They started to run in the opposite direction but stopped when they saw I wasn’t following.   
“Rose! Come on!” Laszlo said waving me along.

“I have an idea and I need to save my friend. Go! I’ll be fine!” I told them before looking back at the coming crowd.

“Can you remember the way?” I heard Laszlo ask but I wasn’t paying attention. He kept talking to Tallulah but I didn’t hear a thing. Suddenly, he was standing next to me, waiting for our opportunity to join the crowd. 

I didn’t have a chance today anything to him because there it was. I jumped out of the corner and in line right behind Martha. I was surprised to see Frank next to her in line, I was happy to see he had survived this far. Laszlo not far behind me in joining the crowd.

“Keep walking,” I told Martha, not wanting her to draw attention to my appearance.

“I’m so glad to see you.” She said relieved. 

“Right back at ya! You too, Frank!” I said as we marched down another tunnel and into a large bright room. This must have been the Lab they were talking about. We marched into the center of the room and the pig slaves directed us into two lines. I looked around and saw 4 Dalek’s around the room. 

They gathered at the front of the room and one of them ordered “REPORT!”

“DALEK SEC IS ENTERING THE FINAL STAGE OF EVOLUTION.” One responded.

The first ordered again, “SCAN HIM. PREPARE FOR BIRTH.”

“ _ Evolution? Well, that doesn’t make sense.”  _ That’s what I thought, aren’t they supposed to be perfect? “ _ Yes, that was the whole biases for the Dalek’s and anyone else from Skaro.”  _ Lovely.

The farthest Dalke from us gained my attention when the others moved. He was darker than the others almost black compared to the copper color of the others. He also was shaking and smoking. 

“What’s wrong with old charlie boy over there?” Martha asked having noticed him too.

“Ask them,” I told her. 

“What? Me? Rose, you have to be kidding?” She said aghast.

“Martha, they need to not see me. I have a history with them and that could be very bad. Please, find out what is wrong with them?” I whispered to her.

She took a deep breath and stepped out of line. “Daleks, I demand to be told. What is this final experiment?” The three conscious ones turned towards her when she spoke. “Report!”

The one in front came close to her, wiggled its eye at her then finally spoke. “YOU WILL BEAR WITNESS.”

“To what?” She asked, controlling her fear.

“THIS IS THE DAWN OF A NEW AGE.”

“What does that mean?”

“WE ARE THE ONLY FOUR DALEKS IN EXISTENCE. SO THE SPECIES MUST EVOLVE. A LIFE OUTSIDE THE SHELL. THE CHILDREN OF SKARO MUST WALK AGAIN.” With that, it turned away and back to the shaking one.

_ “This is a problem. We have got to stop this.” _

Before my eyes, the light of the black one’s eyes socket dimmed before the shell began to open. I had seen a real Dalek once before but what I saw was nothing like that. It crawled out on human legs and stood up tall. It was as if a Dalek and a human had merged, I hated to think it but that was probably what had happened. It had tentacles coming off its face and its brain was exposed on the top of its gigantic head. Only one eye rested on its face. 

“I am a human Dalek.” It said. “I am your future.”

My heart stopped beating as I stared at the creature in front of me. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave some love in the form of comments, kudos, and bookmarks!


	16. I Wish I'd Killed Them All

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 2/3 of the New York Dalek's Arc. Rose is really coming into herself, and find her unique style.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, it's been a few days. School and work have been tough but things are calming down so we should be back to regular soon.
> 
> Leave some love in the form of comments, kudos, and bookmarks!

**Chapter 16**

**Rose**

**I Wish I Killed Them All**

I stared at the Dalek creature in terror, the TARDIS mirroring my feelings making them twice as powerful. The anger and fear were causing what was left of the Bad Wolf to raise its hackles. It was taking all of my self-control to not start glowing and draw attention to me. Martha, Frank, Laszlo, and the other prisoners stared at the Human Dalek, I don’t know what they were thinking, their faces only excluding terror. 

The Dalek Creature began speaking, “These humans will become like me. Prepare them for hybridization.” 

While the rest were distracted by him, I ducked down and out of the crowd. Might as well make a good entrance if I was gonna try and stop them. I could hear the machinery of the Daleks moving and pig slaves squealing before Martha began protesting. I decided to make my entrance then. I pulled my 2018 edition phone out of my pocket and pressed play on my music app. My Humps by the Black Eye Peas began blaring from my speakers (the doctor had updated them as soon as we got it). I heard everyone stop before Martha let out a giggle at my song choice. 

“What is that sound?” The Dalek Human said looking around confused. 

I popped out from behind my hiding spot. “Oh, sorry. That would be me. Hiya, surprise, how ya been, awful I would hope so.”

“ABOMINATION!” One Dalek said.

“THE EXTERMINATOR OF THE DALEK’S!” Another of the actual Dalek’s shouted. A flash of golden power and dust passed behind my eyes. The actuality of what I, or Time Goddess me, had done to them only a passing thought.

“EXTERMINATE!” The third Dalek ordered.

“Wait!” The Dalek Human held his hands out to stop the others. They all halted in shock. I stood patiently waiting for this to play out. 

After a moment, they did nothing. I drew the attention back to me, “Well, then, a new form of Dalek. This is revolting, clever but revolting.”

_ “That’s one way to put it.” _

“The Cult of Skaro escaped your slaughter, yours and the Doctors!” Human Dalek said.

“And how did you end up in 1930?” I asked.

“Emergency Temporal Shift.” The Dalek Human answered. As I looked at him I noticed what he was wearing, the same suit Mr. Diagoras had been wearing earlier when he had hired us to go down in the tunnels. I felt a tinge of sympathy for the lost man but he had been pretty awful before so it wasn’t very strong.

“ _ That will have cost tremendous power. That will be good for us.” _

“Wow, probably depleted those power cells, huh?” I forced a laugh, presenting some false bravado. “Oh if you had full power, New York wouldn’t even be standing anymore. Much less the Earth. But instead, your hiding here in the dark, experimenting. All of which gives us, you, the human Dalek. That’s a bit anticlimatic huh?”

“I am Dalek in human form.” He insisted. 

_ “Does he feel the humanity?” _

“And how does it feel?” I asked him curiously. Dalek’s and human emotion doesn’t really mesh well. “Tell me, Dalek Sec. That’s your name, right? You are a whole different type of Dalek. A name and a mind of your own. What are you thinking, feeling right now?”

“I feel humanity.” He said as if it was a revelation. He was ashamed of it though and turned away.

“Alright, that’s some progress,” I said, masking my disgust. Normal Daleks were awful, this was more than I could even begin to understand. 

“I feel everything, we wanted from mankind, which is ambition, hatred, aggression, and war. Such a genius for war…” The Dalek half of this creature began to shine through.

“No, that’s not what humanity is. That’s not what it means.” I said. 

“I think it does! At heart, this species is so very Dalek.” I hated his response because a small part of me agreed with him. Humanity was still primitive, fighting within itself and its first instinct was to fight. 

“All right, so what have you accomplished? This final experiment? Cause it looks to me like you have nothing. I can show you what you are missing, tell you where you failed.” I yelled as I made more space for myself, forcing the Dalek’s back. The huddled group of prisoners still being held by pig men. Though they weren’t holding on very hard. 

I held up my phone, the music screen still up. “This little thing right here. This is what you are missing.”

“What is the purpose of this device?” Human Dalek said upset.

“It plays music, among other things. And with music, you can dance to it, sing to it, fall in love with it.” A memory of dancing with my first doctor slammed into me full force but I pushed it away, I would remember later when Dalek’s aren’t threatening to destroy Earth. I looked into the eye socket of one of the Dalek’s.

“But to a Dalek, it’s all just noise.” I pressed play and used my sonic to amplify it. A shrill buzz broke through the background noise of the lab. The actual Dalek’s began spinning wildly and Human-boy collapsed to his knees trying to keep the noise out. After a moment the Dalek’s began trying to protect him, surrounding him, screaming about “protecting him”. They paid us no mind so when I shouted, “RUN!” everyone did exactly that. I managed to shut my phone off before joining the runners.

We ran through the tunnels, Martha leading the pack before she came to a halt. “I don’t know where I’m going!” 

“Keep moving!” I said as I jumped in front of her. “MOVE! MOVE!” 

As we ran I saw a head of blonde hair, aw come on. “Move, Tallulah, run!”

_ “She should have stayed at the theater.”  _ No kidding. “ _ At least she didn’t run into the Daleks.” _

“What happened to Laszlo?” She asked.

“Later, Run!” I pulled her along with us and she joined the running pack.

We made it to the ladder, leading up into the theater and away from the Daleks. “UP! UP!” They all listened to me and I was never so thankful for adrenaline. 

\-----------------

We made it to Hoovervile pretty quickly and found Solomon and the rest of the men huddled around the fire. He was delighted to see Frank and some of the other people, some of those who had gone missing. Tallulah and Martha huddled by the fire with the rest of the released prisoners.

“These Daleks, they sound like the stuff of nightmares. And they want to breed?” He asked us after we had explained everything to him. 

“They are putting themselves into human bodies. Creating hybrid creatures of both Daleks and humans. Everyone here in Hooverville will be at risk, you’ve got to get everyone out of here.” 

“Lady Wolf, Hooverville is the lowest place a man can fall. There is nowhere else to go.” He said with finality. 

“Solomon, you have to scatter. This place isn’t safe, the railroads, go to another state. The Daleks make are making you a human farm here. They will kill all of you.” I tried to convince him, but I knew I wasn’t getting anywhere. 

“Maybe we can reason with them,” Solomon said grasping at straws. 

_ “He is a proud, stubborn man.” _

“There isn’t a chance,” Martha spoke up from the fire. 

“You ain’t seen ‘em, boss.” Frank seconded as he walked over to us. 

“Daleks are bad enough, regularly. They destroy anything they deem unfit. Right not, they are vulnerable. And that makes them even more dangerous.” I implored. 

Suddenly one of Solomon’s sentries started screaming. “They’re coming! They’re coming!” I could see him running towards the center of the camp. 

“A sentry must have seen something,” Solomon said. He was right, the sentry came running through the camp screaming of monsters. I could only guess he meant the pigmen. 

“Too late to run now,” I said disappointed. 

“We’re under attack! Everyone to arms!” Solomon ordered, Frank quick to relay the orders to more of the men. I grabbed Martha and Tallulah and pushed them into the center of the men. 

“Grab anything, make anything a weapon,” Frank said.

“Come back! We’ve got to stick together. It’s not safe out there, come back!” Solomon shouted as some of the men turned and ran. Soon the screams of the people of Hooverville were intermixed with pig squeals. 

_ “This isn’t going to end well.” _

“We need to get out of the park,” Martha said.

“That’s not possible anymore. They are on all sides. They are driving everyone back into the center of the camp.” I shouted as I turned in circles watching the pigs corral us. 

‘We’re trapped!” Tallulah shouted. 

“Then we stand together!” Solomon shouted. “Gather round! Everyone come to me! You there, Jethro, Harry, Seamus, stay together. They can’t take all of us!” The men started shouting at the pigs, how many they hit I didn’t know. 

“We can hold them off till daylight…” Martha shouted.

“ _ Incoming, look up.”  _ I really don’t want to. “ _ Sorry.” _

“Martha, that won’t help. These pig creatures are just the foot soldiers following orders.” I said as I stared at the two incoming Daleks floating in the sky.

I heard the men and women surrounding me let out sounds of shock and words of wonderment, but they fell deaf to my ears. The roaring of the Wolf was too much, not having to hide my presence anymore some golden power started leaking from my fingertips. 

Frank raised his gun and shot at one of them. It bounced off harmlessly, I reached for him and pushed the gun down. “It won’t do anything.”

Suddenly the Daleks began shooting around the camp, blowing things up around us. They didn’t shot anyone else but the explosions were enough to throw some people through the air from the force. People screamed in fear and worst of all pain. 

“THE HUMANS WILL SURRENDER!”

“Leave them alone, these people have done nothing to you!” I tried, though I knew it was pointless. For a moment, they stopped shooting. I was scared to know what was more intriguing than causing death and destruction.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Solomon walking forwards. I jumped to pull him back, “No, Solomon, stay back!”

_ “He is a protector, he will do what he can to protect his people.” _ That’s what I am afraid of.

He didn’t listen to me. “I’m told that I’m addressing the Daleks. Is that right? From what I hear, you’re outcasts, too.” He shouted towards the two Dalek’s floating in the sky.

“Solomon, please stop! It won’t do anything.” I begged him. 

“Lady Wolf, this is my township, and these are my people. You will respect my authority and decisions. Let me try.” He pushed me back gently, I let him push me towards the crowd but didn’t join the huddled citizens of Hooverville. 

He walked towards them a bit and opened his arms up to show he wasn’t a threat. “Daleks, ain’t we the same? Underneath, ain’t we all kin? Cause you see, I’ve just discovered, this past day, that god’s universe is a thousand times the size I thought it was. And that scares me. Oh, yeah, that terrifies me right down to the bone. But surely, it’s got to give me hope, hope that, maybe together, we can make a better tomorrow. So I beg you now if you have any compassion in your hearts, then you’ll meet with us and stop this fight. Well? What do you say?” He sounded so hopeful, a tiny bit of me was hoping that he might have been able to convince them. But a bigger part of me, the part where the TARDIS was knew that it was hopeless. 

The Dalek’s were silent for a moment, the hesitation making me hold my breath. Then they proved themselves to be Dalek’s. "EXTERMINATE.” 

The shot hit Solomon, the flash of his skeleton in his skin something that will stick with me forever. The people of Hooverville screaming in horror, behind me. I heard Frank’s scream above others and my heart went out for the boy. He ran out from the ground and clutched Solomon’s already dead body. 

Martha’s distraught voice came out from behind me. “They killed him. They just shot him on the spot.”

“Daleks!” I said seething. 

“ _ Be careful, don’t be stupid.” _

I didn’t listen to her and walked out to the Dalek’s. I stood in front of them similar to the way Solomon had, my arms spread out. “All right. So it’s my turn. Take me! Take me and leave these people alone!” I screamed at them.

“I WILL BE THE DESTROYER OF OUR GREATEST ENEMY!” One of the floaters said. 

_ “Do try not to get hit with those beams, they can cause some actual damage.” _

“Come on! Do it! Take me!” I screamed. 

“EXTERMINA-” 

Something cut him off before he could finish. It was silent for a moment before he spoke again, although he wasn’t speaking to us. 

“I DON NOT UNDERSTAND. IT IS THE ABOMINATION! THE URGE TO KILL IS TOO STRONG.” Then it was a moment of silence, the other half of the conversation happening elsewhere.

“I OBEY.” The Dalek said

“What’s going on?” I questioned them, though I doubted I would get an answer. 

“YOU WILL FOLLOW.”

_ “Oh dear, this is getting interesting. I won’t tell you not to go, but we have to be careful.” _

“No! Rose!” Martha ran out towards me. “You can’t go!”

“ _ We can use Martha, try and slip her the psychic paper. She can figure out what is happening on the other side of this. _

I turned back towards her, she had tears welling in her eyes. “I’ve got to go. The Daleks just changed their minds, Daleks never change their minds.” 

“Rose, what about us? You can’t just leave me here? Leave us here?” She begged, I knew that some part of her was worried about being stuck in the 1930s too. I wished I had time to tell her about the Emergency Program One, tell her that she would be taken home. But the majority of Martha was worried about the people of Hooverville, worried about being left at the mercy of the Daleks and pig slaves. 

I turned back towards the Daleks. “One condition. If I come with you, you spare the lives of everyone here. Do you hear me?”

“HUMANS WILL BE SPARED. ABOMINATION, FOLLOW.”

“Then I am coming with you,” Martha said as she jogged up next to me. 

“No, Martha stay here. You need to do what you do best, you’re a doctor, and people are hurt. Let me do this,” I looked towards the Dalek’s and lowered my voice a bit. “I’ll be back, you know that.”

She nodded but didn’t look happy about it. Not that I blame her, I wasn’t super excited to go with the Dalek’s. I walked away from her and towards the Daleks with my hands digging in my pocket. Once I found the leather wallet I grabbed it and turned back to Martha. 

“Oh, by the way.” I reached and wrapped her up in a hug. Silently slipping the wallet into her back pocket. “Thank you for being a good friend Martha.” With that I turned and walked away, the Dalek’s flanking me from the air.

“ _ This is bound to be interesting, you and the baby will survive anything they try and do but do be careful. You can still be hurt.” _

\----------------

I walked into the lab once again and went charging for the Human Dalek. “Those people were defenseless! You only wanted me, but no, that wasn’t enough for you, you had to start killing people, cause that’s all Daleks’s do, kill and destroy. ”

“The deaths were wrong.” Dalek Sec said, shocking me into silence.

“Come again?” I asked. 

“That man, their leader, Solomon, he showed courage,” Sec said.

“Is that a good thing?” I knew Solomon had lots of courage but why was it significant. 

“ _ That certainly is peculiar.”  _

“That’s excellent,” Sec said, once again confusing me.

“Why this human side of you is really rearing its head. You are becoming a bit more human, Sec.” I said. 

“You were with the Doctor before, he was the last of his kind. I am the first of my kind, the first of many. You are an unknown, you appear human but I can see something bubbling up under you. There is something special about you.” Sec said, I kept my face blank. They didn't need to know any more about me than they already did. 

“And what, do you want something from me? Sorry, I’m not in the business of helping killers.” I said crossing my arms and glaring at him. 

“We have tried everything to survive. When we found ourselves stranded in the ignorant age, first we tried growing new Dalek embryos, but their flesh was too weak.” Sec explained. 

“ _ That explains the Dalek Goo we found.”  _

“Yeah, I know. I came across one of those poor guys in tunnels. Just left out there in the dark to die.” I said, disgust prevalent in my voice.

“It forced us to conclude what is the greatest resource on this planet? It’s people.” Sec said, almost reverently. He flipped up a large lever and lights flickered on above us. The lab turned out to be much larger than I thought in the first place. The ceiling was a couple of hundred feet above us and the small section of the room I had been in was only a fraction of the room. Hanging from the ceilings were cocoon-like things, hundreds of them. Sec pulled another lever and one of the cocoons started to lower down to us. Sec and I walked towards it and let it stop right between us. The other three Dalek’s staying silent around us. 

“We stole them. We stole human beings for our purpose.” He pointed to the top of one of the cocoons, which now was looking more and more like a gurney. “Look inside.”

I unraveled the sheet covering what must have been a human. There was a man, I couldn’t tell if he was asleep or just unconscious. I stared at the man in despair, if this man was in one of the cocoons then the rest of them all held a human. Hundreds of humans floated above me and I didn’t know how to save them. 

“ _ We will figure this out. We will try and save them all.”  _

I didn’t answer her, too busy trying to listen to Sec. He was definitely the type of villain to tell me his whole plan and I needed to use it. “This is the true extent of the final experiment.” 

“Is he dead?” I had to know what they were doing to these humans. 

“Near-death. With his mind wiped ready to be filled with new ideas.” Sec reached out and caressed the man’s head.

“Dalek ideas, then,” I said.

“The human Dalek race.” He explained.

“All of these people...How many?” I looked up at the gurneys, there were so many of them. 

“We have caverns beyond this, storing more than 1,000,” Dalek Sec said proudly. 

“ _ I’m scanning for them now, but it’s unlikely I will find them. Rassilion, so many of them. We might be able to restore their humanity.”  _

“Is there any way to restore them, to make them human again?” I asked Sec, though I doubted there was any hope despite what Sister had said. 

“Everything that they were has been lost.” Dalek Sec said, tinged with sadness. That human side of him must be really getting to him. 

“So what? They are empty shells, waiting to be filled with your Dalek ideals. The conversions must take a lot of power, where are you going to get that. This planet hasn’t even split the atom yet, that won’t happen for years and I doubt you can wait that long. Patience has never been your strong suit. How are you going to do this?” This was just in line with Dalek’s destroy everything and anything you can and don’t worry about it. 

“Open the conductor plan,” Sec ordered one of the pig slaves. We then walked over to the plans. The actual salt and pepper cans following us.

\---------------------------

We stood in front of a monitor showing off the Empire State Building. I don’t know what they thought was so special about the building, I had already figured out where we were under. The lab was directly under the landmark and I made sure to tell Sec that. 

“But what the point of you showing me this, how is it going to power you human-Dalek confusion,” I asked him confused.

“We needed an energy conductor.” He said it as if it explained everything, which in some ways it did. 

“What for?” I asked him.

_ “There must be some large amount of energy coming. They’ll use the building to conduct the energy down here to complete their final experiment. I’ll scan for energy sources.” _

“I am the genetic template. My altered DNA was to be administered to each human body. A strong enough blast of gamma radiation can splice the Dalek and human genetic codes and waken each body from its sleep.”

_ “OK, focusing on incoming gamma energy. Keep him talking, I might have just found what they are looking for.” _

“You need gamma radiation for this,” I looked back at the monitor and saw an image of the sun. “Oh, I see. You’re using the sun.”

“ _ There is a solar flare incoming today. One of the greatest to hit Earth in 1,000 years.” _

Dalek Sec was quick to repeat what she had just whispered into my mind. “Gamma radiation will be drawn to the energy conductor. And when it strikes...”

“Your Human Dalek army will awake. But what do you need me for?” I asked him. 

“You must be smart, you spent time with the Doctor. I would like his genius but you will be a good second best.” He said as if it was a good thing.

“Thanks, I’ll try not to be too offended.” He ignored my sarcasm and kept going with his plan. 

“Consider a pure Dalek. Intelligent but emotionless.”

“Isn’t removing your emotions what makes you stronger, wasn’t that the whole manifesto? What your creator thought, what was his name, Davros?” I said pulling the name out of the archive in my mind.

“He was wrong,” Sec said shocking me and the other Daleks in the room. 

“Sorry, your gonna have to say that one again for me, what?” I said trying to keep my shock off my face. 

“It makes us lesser than our enemies. We must return to the flesh and also the heart.” Dalek Sec said completely unaware of the other Daleks negative reaction to his words. They were spinning and looking at each other, passing along secret looks. If they had faces I would have said they were reading each other’s facial expressions.

“With emotions and flesh as you say, you won’t be the supreme beings anymore,” I said, totally not trying to sow more dissent between these Sec and the other Daleks.

“And that is good,” Sec said, doing all the work for me.

“THAT IS INCORRECT! DALEKS ARE SUPREME!” The one behind us screamed. 

“No!” Sec said as he turned to them. “Not anymore.”

“BUT THAT IS OUR PURPOSE!” Another one of them screamed.

“Then our purpose is wrong!” Sec screamed at them.

_ “This destruction of the Cult of Skaro is amusing and promising. You may be able to get something out of this.”  _

“Where has our quest for supremacy led us?” Sec continued, “To this. Hiding in the sewers on a primitive world. Just four of us left.”

“BECAUSE OF THE AMONINATION, THE ONE YOU ORDERED US NOT TO KILL.” The third Dalek said turning its eye socket towards me. Sec ignored him and continued on. 

“If we do not change now, then we deserve extinction.” He said, displaying just how far the humanity in him was affecting him.

“You want to change everything that makes a Dalek a Dalek? You don’t want to save your race, you want to create another one.” I said, slightly amazed at this Dalek’s chutzpah.

\---------------------------

“Do you have anywhere near the same knowledge the Doctor had? Regarding genetic engineering? We must have the new race of Dalek humans ready before the solar flare erupts.” Sec asked me as we walked away from the monitor and back to the gurney holding the man.

“Aren’t you the template, it shouldn’t be too hard to implant your gene sequence. Unless you want to change it?”

“I do. I want to make them more human. Humans are the great survivors, we need that ability.” He said, caressing the prone man’s face again. 

“Hold on, there is no way those three will let you do that,” I said pointing to the rest of the robot demons. 

“I am their leader.” He said as if that prevented any mutiny.

I turned to the rest of them. “Is that enough for you, huh?”

“DALEKS MUST FOLLOW ORDERS.” The one to the right said.

“DALEK SEC COMMANDS. WE OBEY.” The one in the back said as he rolled forward.

“If you don’t help me, nothing will change,” Sec said from behind me.

“Sorry to tell you buddy, but there is no room on Earth for another race of people,” I said, unapologetic.

“Do you have the Doctor’s TARDIS? You can take us across the stars. Find us a new home and allow the New Daleks to start again.” 

“ _ You better not let those creatures anywhere near me.”  _ Of course not. What do you think I am?  _ “Sorry, I just had to be sure.”  _ These things won’t survive long enough to go anywhere if I have something to say about it.  _ “Do you have a plan?”  _ Yes, he wants to let me into his experiment, the perfect opportunity to ruin their plans.

“When’s the solar flare?” I asked him and Sister.

“ _ Eleven minutes and 47 seconds.” _

_ “ _ Eleven minutes,” Sec told me, unspecifically. 

“Alrighty, I can do something with that. Gotta get a move on.” I said as I skipped past Sec and the others to the lab table. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave some love in the form of comments, kudos, and bookmarks!


	17. One Last One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 3/3 of the New York Dalek Saga, sorry it took so long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave some love in the form of comments, kudos, and bookmarks!

**Chapter 17**

**Rose**

**One Last One**

“ _ I like your plan sister, deactivate the gene sequence, and still implant the blank sequence. They’ll be none the wiser that it’s not doing anything.”  _

“There is no point in using chromosomal grafting, it’s too erratic. We will need to split the genome and force the new Dalek human sequence right into the cortex.” I ran around the lab, mixing different chemicals of different colors. I had one opportunity when none of them were looking at me and used it to sonic the mixture I had in my hand. The frequency was enough to deactivate the genes. 

“We need more chromatin solution,” Sec said.

“THE PIG SLAVES HAVE IT.” One of them said. I turned around to see a line of pig slaves carrying a crate. I hid a smile at the sight of Laszlo in the group. He was smart enough to look at me and stayed with the pig slaves. 

“The pig salves, what is their role in the grand plan?” I wondered aloud, knowing I wouldn’t like the answer.

“Nothing. They’re just simple beasts. Their life span is limited to a few weeks.” Sec said dismissively, I turned and made brief eye contact with Laszlo. “Power up the line feeds.” He commanded one of the Daleks.

_ “Even with the humanity, they are still Daleks. They never change, or at least change completely. I know your first experience with Daleks was different.”  _ I can’t let them do this to other people. There is no way I can save Laszlo is there? “ _ No, unfortunately like the other humans, the wiped ones, there is no way to return them to what they once were.”  _ Well, the least I can do is get rid of the Daleks once and for all.

“THE LINE FEEDS ARE READY.” A Dalek reported.

“Then it’s all systems go!” I used a syringe to suck some of the (deactivated) gene compound up. I was a really good actress if I must say so myself, Sec had given me almost complete free reign of the lab, the other Daleks reluctantly following his lead. 

“The solar flare is imminent. The radiation will reach Earth in a matter of minutes.” Sec reported from the monitor as he watched a countdown.

“ _ 9 minutes and 37 seconds to be exact.” _

“And we will be ready for it. That compound will allow the gene bonds to reconfigure into a different pattered. Power Up!” I said as I pushed the liquid from the syringe into another machine. Laszlo and another pig slave both pulled the switches up to start the process. 

“Start the line feeds,” Sec said as we both watched the liquid travel through the tubes in the room, to the people above us and I’m assuming to the other rooms holding more people.

“There goes the gene solution,” I said still keeping up appearances. 

“The lifeblood,” Sec declared.

Suddenly an alarm went off, my heart stuttered scared they figured out my deception. “What’s that?”

“What’s happening? Is there a malfunction? Answer me!” Sec ordered, my heart began beating again, the alarm wasn’t because of me. I looked around before I saw it. The salt and pepper cans were mutinying. 

I ran for the command computer, “They are overriding the gene feed.” This time I wasn’t pretending, I was really trying to stop them because if the Daleks succeeded they would have an actual Dalek army.

“Impossible!” Sec commanded. “They cannot disobey orders.”

Before I could respond to Sec, the Dalek at the computer next to me turned and pointed his gun arm at me. Threatening me. It took all I had to not put my hand on my cloaked stomach, I had been extremely lucky so far, I can’t risk it more.

“THE ABOMINATION WILL STEP AWAY FROM THE CONTROLS.” The Dalek then began herding me towards a bundle of pig slaves. I really hoped Laszlo was in the group, he might be able to save me.

“Stop! You will not fire!” Sec tried, unsuccessfully next to me.

“SHE IS AN ENEMY OF THE DALEKS. AND SO ARE YOU.”

“I am your commander. I am Dalek Sec!”

“YOU HAVE LOST YOUR AUTHORITY.” One of them said.

“YOU ARE NO LONGER A DALEK.” Another said.

“What have you done? What’s going into the gene feed?” I asked, upset that they had foiled my plan. 

“THE NEW BODIES WILL BE 100% DALEK.”

“No! You can’t do this!” Sec tried again.

“PIG SLAVES, RESTRAIN DALEK SEC AND THE ABOMINATION.” At the order, the group of the pig slaves behind me rushed to restrain us. Laszlo pushed through the rest of them and held me on his own. Dalek Sec protesting required two pig slaves.

“Release me! I created you! I am your master!” None of the pig slaves or actual Daleks seemed to care about his protests. 

Another alarm went off and the Daleks turned towards each other to talk, ignoring the rest of us. I knew I had to take the opportunity their distraction provided. 

“SOLAR FLARE APPROACHING!”

The elevator door behind us dinged. Laszlo and I both turned to look at it. An idea forming in our minds.

“PREPARE TO INTERCEPT!

‘There’s the lift.” Laszlo nodded at it. “Lady’s first.” We both pushed other pig slaves out of the way and ran for the elevator. The Daleks while distracted were still quick on the uptake and saw us before we got very far, though that doesn’t mean they were able to stop us. 

“THE ABOMINATION IS ESCAPING. STOP HER! STOP HER!

The lift doors opened and Laszlo and I dived him. I used my sonic to closed the doors faster than any buttons on the lift would have. Laszlo leaned against the lift wall, panting. 

“We have only moments before the radiation reaches the Earth.”

“ _ 7 minutes and 12 seconds.” _

“A little over 4 minutes to be specific. We need to get to the top of the building.” I looked over at him and noticed his fatigued state. “Laszlo, what’s wrong?” I asked him, though I feared I already knew the answer. 

“Out of breath. It’s nothing.” He said dismissively. I stared at him, unblinking. I didn’t believe him and he knew it, but neither of us would admit it. “We escaped them, Lady Wolf, that’s all that mattress.”

The elevator doors opened to the top floor and revealed Martha, Frank, and Tallulah standing there.

“Rose!” Martha shouted running for me. 

“I never thought I’d see you again!” Tallulah screamed looking at Laszlo.

He ran out of the lift and into her arms. “No stopping me.”

Martha pulled me over to an easel covered in blueprints. “We worked it out. We know what they’re done. There is Dalekanium on the mast and BTW it’s really good to see you.”

“Oh, ditto.” I gave her a hug but the ding of the elevator ended it quickly. “No, no, no, no, no, no!” I ran for the elevator but I was too slow. The doors closed and nothing I did with the sonic could stop it, it was headed back down to the Daleks. “Damn, deadlock seal, nothing to do now but try and figure this out up here.”

“Where’s it going?” Martha asked.

“Back down to the Daleks and they aren’t going to leave us up here alone. We need to get rid of that Dalekanium.”

“ _ 6 minutes, exactly.” _

_ “ _ Ok, 6 minutes to go, I’ll go up there and remove the Dalekanium before the gamma radiation hits,” I explained to Martha, Frank, Laszlo, and Tallulah.

“Gammon radiation? What the heck is that?” Tallulah questioned. 

“Gamma Radiation? Like the Hulk?” Martha questioned quietly. I choked down a laugh, I didn’t have the time to explain Marvel Comics much less the need. I ignored Tallulah’s question and ran for the ledge. There was a ladder, leading up to the top.

“Oh, that’s high,” I said looking out over the city. “That’s very, blimey, that’s high.”

“And we’ve got to go even higher,” Martha said before turning and pointing upwards. “That’s the mast up there, look. There are three pieces of Dalekanium on the base. We’ve got to get them off.” She and I looked up the ladder and I could see the top of the tower but couldn’t make out the Dalekanium.

I turned to Martha, “That’s not we, that’s just me. I need you to stay down here and figure out a way to slow down the pig slaves that are inevitably coming up the elevator. I’m sorry, I’ll take care of this stuff and you take care of yours.” With that, I turned away from her and made my way up the ladder. Martha turning inside to the others. 

“ _ Four minutes and 5 seconds.” _

The climb up to the top of the tower was hard, the ladder ran out pretty quick and I was having to scale the walls and unfinished parts of the tower to get to the top.

_ “Use the sonic to unbolt the Dalekanium, it won’t be fast but hopefully you can get them unattached before the strike. I have a backup plan but let’s try to avoid it, please.”  _ I was doing what she said before she had even finished talking.  _ “Also 3 and 15 seconds.”  _

Finally, I got one piece of Dalekanium off, it had taken too long. I was quick to start on the next one. 

_ “2 minutes, exactly.” _

The next one took just as long, my fingers were getting hold but I could still feel them. Suddenly I started glowing lightly, everywhere emitting a golden glow. I didn’t stop to question it, I knew it was just a part of me. 

“ _ One minute and 22 seconds.”  _ She said to me as I finished the bolts on the second piece. I wasn’t going to have enough time to get the third one. 

“What’s plan B and quickly?” I asked out loud, the anger at the situation making me what to scream.

“ _ Put yourself in the path of the gamma strike, that way your DNA will be added to the Dalek and Human DNA. Hopefully, you can influence the new species enough the Dalek’s won’t have full control. And yes, that does mean you have to get struck by lightning. You have 30 seconds to decide. You are already glowing and exerting some of the power we share, some more power and you should be protected from the actual lighting, it will pass through you but do no harm to you or the baby. 15 seconds.” _

“I hate this!” I screamed to no one in particular before abandoning the sonic method and wrapping myself around the mast. I closed my eyes and let out a deep breath, I could feel the power shinning from my body. I didn’t know how to control the power I had, it would be something to learn later. 

Suddenly the lightning struck, the light as it struck the pole almost blinding but it didn’t hurt. All I felt was a pinch on my hand at the top of the mast pole. _  
__“The strike has passed, hopefully, enough of your DNA was added into the mix, enough to change their army. The baby is registering as fine from what I can tell but that was a lot and this isn’t over yet. I want to perform an actual medical scan in the med bay, we have gotten away with a lot during this pregnancy but we should still be careful.”_

“Yeah, that sounds good. We can get Martha to help, she is after all a fully-fledged doctor now.” I said aloud as I jumped down from the mast, I gave my cloaked stomach a quick rub and the baby gave a kick for the first time that day. I guess the strike woke them up. 

“What am I helping with?” Martha asked as she climbed up to the top level, Frank behind her. 

“After this, when we go home, I need a check-up. I was hoping you could help me with that.” I subtly waved my hands in the direction of my stomach. 

Martha nodded understandingly, “Yeah totally. A good check-up never hurt anyone.” She looked behind me, “Uh, Rose. I can’t help but notice there is still Dalekanium attached. Isn’t that what we didn’t want to be there when the strike happened.”

“I got in the way of the strike, the little Dalek-Hulks are now Rose-Dalek-Hulks. We need to stop them though because the Daleks will have gone straight to war mode. Their army is marching through the streets, well probably under them.”

“How do we stop them?” Frank asked as we made our way back down to the top floor where Tallulah and Laszlo were waiting.

“We got one shot at this. We have to hope that my implanted DNA will be enough to corrupt the Daleks.” I said as we walked into the flood, my eyes widened at the pile of dead pig slaves in the elevator. “We have to draw the Dalek army and their fire away from New York. But we need a place to draw them out, somewhere away from others. Where, where, where? Tallulah!” I turned to her.

“That’s me. Three L’s and an H.” She stepped forward. 

“The theater! It’s right above them and the tunnels! It’s already past midnight, can you get us in there?” I asked, a plan forming in my head.

“Don’t see why not.” She said.

I turned around and looked at the lift full of dead pig slaves. “Is there another lift?” I asked the others.

“We came up the service elevator,” Martha told me helpfully. “It’s back down the hall.”

“That’ll work! Once more into the brink!” I said as we ran for the other elevator.

\------------------

We walked into the large empty theater, Laszlo going around the back to turn the lights on for us. The place was huge, with three floors of seats and a large stage as well, there would be plenty of space for the Dalek army or at least a majority of it. 

“This will be perfect, thanks Tallulah.” I ran to the center of the theater and stood upon some of the seats. I whipped my sonic out and scanned the entire theater. I had to make sure there were no late-night squatters here, I needed everyone as safe as can be. 

“ _ No life forms detected besides yourselves. Careful, confirmation with the Daleks is risky because normally they don’t care if they lose their own people. They have no regards except for completing the task and in this case killing you.” _

“There ain’t nothing more creepy than a theater in the dark,” Tallulah said behind me, Laszlo catching up behind her. I noticed he was breathing heavily and he had to take one of the seats. “Laszlo? What’s wrong?” She asked when she noticed.

“Nothing, Sweets. It’s just so hot.” He said panting.

“But it’s freezing in here. Rose, what’s happening to him?” She turned to me with a pleading look.

Laszlo shook his head behind her and I went along with his wishes. I wasn’t going to fight him on how he wanted it to be handled. I went back to changing the setting on my sonic. “Sorry, Tallulah. Not now, I gotta get the army directed here.”

“What are you doing?” Martha asked.

“If the Daleks are going to war, they’ll wanna find me. I’m just telling them where I am.” I said as the sonic began emitting a high pitched frequency.

“ _ They should have received the signal by now, but go ahead and keep sending it out. Are you going to send the others away?” _ No, Martha won’t go and it would be pointless to try and send the others too. I’m just gonna need them to stay out of the way and safe. 

“I need you all to stay behind me. I’m going to take the lead, stay back, and stay down. If you can’t follow my directions please leave before they get here.” I directed them, looking at each of them in the eye for a moment. Martha nodded, she knew that I could handle myself and that I would be fine. I was a little more worried about the guys with us, they were less likely to let me do what I needed to. 

Suddenly the doors behind us crashed open. The army marched in, a line on each side of us. Each held a large gun and blank faces. Tallulah shouted in shock and pulled Laszlo up and towards the rest of us. I put my sonic away in my boot and watched them march in.

“Well, I guess that’s them, huh?” Tallulah asked.

“Humans with Dalek DNA?” Martha questioned as well. 

Frank went to walk towards them but I grabbed him back. “Hey, hey. It’s alright, just stay calm. Don’t antagonize them, right now they are leaving us alone for the most part.”

“What of the Dalek Masters?” Laszlo questioned.

“Oh, I’m sure they aren’t far behind,” I said only seconds before there was an explosion on the stage. My friends all ducked below the seats, the Dalek army didn’t flinch. Tallulah let out a loud high pitched scream. I peaked up over the seats to see Dalek Sec crawling forward, restraint on him. Two of the Daleks behind him, one holding the chain on Sec like a leash. I stood up, getting their attention. 

“THE ABOMINATION WILL STAND BEFORE THE DALEKS.” One commanded. 

I grabbed my sonic before climbing up the back of the seat in front of me and walked forward to them, using the armrests to walk over. I balanced on the armrests four rows ahead of my friends. 

“Careful, Rose,” Martha said quietly.

“YOU WILL DIE, ABOMINATION. IT’S THE BEGINNING OF A NEW AGE. PLANET EARTH WILL BECOME THE NEW SKARO!” One of them declared.

“Oh, what a world that will be. Anything that doesn’t subscribe with the Dalek Manifesto gets squashed into the dirt. Look at that, even Dalek Sec. He was once your leader, remember? The cleverest Dalek to ever live and look at that, look at what you have done. This certainly is the makings of a brand new awful empire.” 

“ _ Sounds about right. Try and scan some of the army, I can see if our intervention made any difference.” _

I was really glad that my sonic was silent when I pressed the button to scan the army. I kept the attention on my face though, continuing one with my lecture. “Is that the building blocks for a whole new civilization?”

Sec spoke up then, trying to get them to listen. “My Daleks, just understand this. If you choose death and destruction, then death and destruction will choose you.” He swayed from side to side, talking to the Daleks on either side of him. 

“INCORRECT! WE ALWAYS SURVIVE. NOW WE WILL DESTROY OUR GREATEST ENEMY, THE ABOMINATION.” 

“ _ Look at that, I think you just beat the Abandoner for worst enemy. Scans of the army say that there is enough of your DNA to affect them. They are taking orders now because they know no different but it seems they are learning.” _

I hid a smile at that, I had managed to subvert the Daleks plan and I could only hope that it would be enough. The two Daleks and Sec were still talking in front of me, it didn’t look like Sec was making much progress though. 

“But she can help us, she was helping us before.” Sec cried.

“THE ABOMINATION MUST DIE!”

“No, I beg you, don’t…” Sec tried again.

“EXTERMINATE!”

The Dalek took aim for me but didn’t see Sec crawling over in front of him. The shot fired but Sec got in the way. The shot hit him and his skeleton glowed for a minute and he collapsed to the stage floor, dead. 

“Wow. The only being who might have helped you; might have lead you out of the darkness, and you just destroyed him.” I turned to the Dalek army, “Did you see what they did? Did ya? That is what a Dalek is.”

“ _ Scan showing increased levels of serotonin. Keep going.” _

“If I’m gonna die here, why not you try out your new army. That way the two of you don’t have to fight over who gets the honor. The Dalek humans, give them their first blood. Come on, Baptise them!” I said confidently, I knew this was going to work.

“DALEK HUMANS, TAKE AIM.”

The army did just that, cocking their guns then lowering them, all of them aimed right at me.

“Come on, Daleks. Give them the command, shoot to kill, right?” I edged them on more.

“EXTERMINATE!”

The army hesitated. 

“EXTERMINATE!”

“OBEY! DALEK HUMANS WILL OBEY!”

“They’re not firing. What did you do, Rose?” I heard Martha ask behind me, I didn’t reply.

_ “I think you did it. Good job.” _

“YOU WILL OBEY! EXTERMINATE!”

“Why?” The man at the front of the line asked, I recognized him as the one Sec and I had looked at before. I let a smile start to grow on my face, his curiosity was my doing.

“DALEKS DO NOT QUESTION ORDERS!”

“But why?” He asked again, this time with an honest to god confused head tilt.

“YOU WILL STOP THIS!”

“But why?” This time, he looked at me for an answer. 

“YOU MUST NOT QUESTION!”

“But you are not our master. And we,” he looked down the line. “We are not Daleks.

“No, no you aren’t,” I spoke up, my smile full-blown on my face. “And you never will be.” I turned back to the Daleks. “Sorry. I got in the way of the Gamma strike. My DNA got all mixed up with them, Bad Wolf DNA. You remember that, right? That’s a lot of freedom mixed up in your Dalek ideals. Looks like we just found out who is winning.”

“IF THE WILL NOT OBEY, THEN THEY MUST DIE.” The Dalek that gave the order then shot the first two in line, including the one who had been questioning. The rest of the army didn’t like that. 

“Get down!” I shouted at my friends a few rows back.

The rest of the army turned their loaded weapons on the two Daleks on the stage, immediately opening fire on them. As good as Daleks were at fighting there were just too many of them. Constant shot after shot from their own army was too much, they tried to fire back but the shots only hit a few of the army. There were still too many. The tops of the salt and pepper shakers exploded off and thankfully I didn’t see any actual Dalek residue flying anywhere, that would have been gross. The army lowered their guns and my friends popped their heads back up, looking around. 

I stepped forward, towards the army. “It’s alright. It’s alright, it’s all right. You did it. You’re free now, we will find you all a home, I promise.”

Suddenly, before I could even do anything the remainder of the army all clutched their ears and fell to the ground in obvious pain. 

“No!” I shouted leaning down, trying to do anything that could help. 

“ _ There is nothing you can do, the last Dalek is killing them all. I can’t stop the pulse he is sending out. I’m so sorry sister.” _

Martha ran forward to some of them while they writhed in pain, but she had no way of helping them. 

“No! Why? Why destroy them?” I screamed at no one in particular.

“What happened? What was that?” Martha asked as she kneeled next to a now-dead woman.

“The last Dalek killed them, rather than let them live defiantly, he killed them. An entire, brand new species. He committed genocide, once again. Just like they always do.” I seethed. 

“What about the last Dalek?” Laszlo asked. “He must still be alive.”

“Yeah, and not for long. The last Dalek left alive in the universe, not if I have anything to do with it.” I stood up, dusted nonexistent lint off my pants, and left the theater. 

\-------------

The last Dalek was still in the lab, next to the command computer hooked into them. He was the control, giving orders from the safety of the lab. We stood there, on opposite sides of the lab starring at each other for a moment. 

“Now what?” I asked, breaking the silence.

“YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!”

“Can’t say I didn’t see that coming. You guys really aren’t original, even the last of the Cult of Skaro. The ones chosen to be clever, nice to see that didn’t work, Dalek what-was-your-name?”

“DALEK CAAN.”

“Caan,” I walked forwards a few steps. “Your entire species has been wiped out, even your Cult of Skaro. You are the last.” I kept moving closer, soon I was only a few feet away, not a whole room. “My husband, the Doctor. He had a soft spot for species close to extinction, especially after genocide. I think we have you and your kind to show for that but he isn’t here. He might have offered to help you, in light of your singularity, but I won’t.”

Caan didn’t react for a moment, his eye socket scanning over me. I didn’t know what I was going to do to him, but I could feel the power of the Bad Wolf growing. She was coming back to finish what she started.

“Any last words, Caan?” I asked my hand beginning to glow. I raised it up, ready to blow him away. 

“EMERGENCY TEMPORAL SHIFT.”

Before I could react his body began to glow and shake and I couldn’t even hit him with a blast before he was gone. The space he was empty, the wires previously connected to him hanging limply. 

“No! Damn it!” I screamed in frustration.

“ _ I’m sorry, Wolf.”  _ Thanks. I shouldn’t have cared for his last words, I should have just killed him on the spot. There is always gonna be a Dalek out there, just waiting to ruin everything again. “ _ We will find him. One day, one day you will kill the last Dalek.” _

Before I could say anything, I heard Martha scream my name. “Rose! Rose!” 

I turned around to see her and Tallulah supporting Laszlo over to me, he didn’t look too good. 

“He is sick,” Martha said as she leads him over. I could hear him wheezing from the other end of the room. “It’s ok. You’ll be alright.” They had to set him down on the middle of the floor, he was too weak to keep going, even with them supporting him. I walked over to him, a resigned look on my face. I knew what was happening.

“It’s his heart,” Martha said, her fingers on his pulse. “It’s racing like mad. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“What is it, Rose?” Tallulah cried. “What’s the matter with him. He says he can’t breathe. What is it?”

Laszlo took a deep breath. “It’s time, sweetheart.” He said to her.

“What do you mean ‘time’? What are you talking about?” She cried, tears ready to fall.

“None of the pig slaves live long. Most only survive a few weeks. I was lucky, I held on cause I had you. But now...I’m dying Tallulah.”

“No, you’re not. Not now, after all this. Rose, can’t you do something?” She looked up at me. I sat next to them, holding my head up with my hands. Watching this conversation was awful but I couldn’t think of anything.

_ “There might be something. Your gonna need to mix somethings up in the lab. And you’re gonna have to work fast.”  _ She told me, flashing a plan through my head. I knew what I needed too. 

“Oh Tallulah, three L’s and an H. Laszlo, you just watch me. I’m not gonna let anyone else die today.” I jumped up and ran to the chemicals. “Martha, come on, I need an extra pair of hands. Too many people have died today, new species, wise old men, and age-old enemies. I won’t let you join the fray, Laszlo.”

Martha and I got to work. She and I worked well together, she knew what I needed it. She mixed when I needed it, turned on the burner when I needed it. Within minutes we had what we needed to save Laszlo.

\-------------

Come sunrise, we all stood in Central Park waiting on Frank. Laszlo had on a trench coat and large hat covering his pig features. I couldn’t reverse the physical changes but I could save his life. Then, walking up the path from Hooverville Frank came walking up. Laszlo and Talulah wrapped in each other’s arms waiting with bated breath for what he had to say. Martha and I leaning on the back of a bench.

“Well, I talked to them and I told them what Solomon would’ve said, and I reckon I shamed one or two of them.” He said, his hands deep in his pockets to stave off the cold.

“And, what did they say?” I asked him before anyone else did.

“They said yes.” He nodded his head, looking at Laszlo. 

Laszlo and Tallulah let out a sigh of relief and hugged each other tightly. Martha and I smiled at each other, I knew they would give in. Frank strikes me as a man who doesn’t take no for an answer when he wants something. 

“ _ And everything works out in the end, at least everything we can do anything about.” _

“They’ll give you a home, Laszlo. I mean, don’t imagine people ain’t gonna stare. I can’t promise you’ll be at peace. But in the end, that is what Hooverville is for. People who ain’t got nowhere else.” Frank said.

“Thank you,” Laszlo said looking at him. “I...I can’t thank you enough.”

Tallulah gave him a blinding smile before wrapping him up in a hug. It was almost a fairy tale ending if he wasn’t a pigman. 

\----------------

After we said our goodbyes to Frank, Tallulah, and Laszlo, Martha and I headed back to the TARDIS. She was still parked underneath the Statue of Liberty. 

“Do you think it will work?” Martha asked after we got off the ferry. “Those two?”

“I don’t know. The romantic inside me wants to say yes. This is New York though, anything is possible here.” I said looking out into the city. 

“The Pig and the Showgirl,” Martha said chuckling. I repeated it laughing. 

“ _ Anything can happen in this city, any iteration of New York.” _

“Just proves it, I suppose. There is someone for everyone.” Martha said hopefully.

I smiled a bittersweet smile. My someone was gone to me forever but that didn’t mean I could ruin everyone else’s happy ending. I turned back to the TARDIS and her doors opened for me. 

“Rose, I’m sorry. I’m sorry that the last Dalek got away, I know they have really messed up your life before. It can’t be easy knowing one got away.” Martha said as she followed me in. 

“Mmm, just gives me something to look forwards to. I’ll see him again, I know I will.” I said as I walked up to the consul and set course for the vortex.

“Ready for your checkup?” Martha asked from the entrance to the corridor. I turned towards her with an upset smile. 

“No, but I guess. You remember which door is the med bay?” I asked a quizzing tone in my voice.

“Uhh...I know the yellow is the kitchen. Uhh. Light blue?” She said hesitantly. 

“Good job, you are getting the hang of this. Off we go.” I said as I walked past her and towards the blue door. 

Once we were both in the med bay, she had me hop on the hospital bed and lay down. After some TARDIS led direction through me she found all she needed. An ultrasound machine and the goo. After a moment or two, she had the sonogram picture up and was looking at the baby. 

“Everything looks healthy, it doesn’t look like anything you have gone through in the last few months has done anything harmful to the baby. I haven’t asked, do you wanna know the gender?” Martha said.

“I think I do. Do you think I should?” I asked her hesitantly. 

“I would love to tell you but only if you want. How bout we go visit Sarah Jane, Luke, and Donna even. We can do a cute reveal, a cake, or something.” She offered. “I know what it is now, I can do it all if you want.”

“That sounds amazing, lets do that. We can go tomorrow, I text them and let them know tomorrow. Thank you for checking up on me and figuring out what to do with this.

“Of course, Rose. That’s what friends are for, right.” She said as she whipped the goo off my stomach and helped me up. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave some love in the form of comments, kudos, and bookmarks!


	18. Baby Shower

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to meet some old friends and find out what the baby is, who's excited? We also get to spend some time with Martha on her own, I hope you like the way I have written her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave some love in the form of comments, kudos, and bookmarks!

**Chapter 18**

**Rose**

**Baby Shower**

The next morning I woke up feeling absolutely awful, I guess it was only inevitable, I had been lucky throughout the entire pregnancy so far. I stayed curled in bed, my blankets pulled up over my head despite the fact that I was sweating buckets. The Old Girl had thankfully kept quiet in my head, my head pounding like there was a drummer living in my head. She was letting out low-pitched hums from the walls of my room though, the white-nose helpfully easing the pain a moment at the time. As well as the pulse of love and affection she sent through our bond, it was the only thing keeping me sane amid the sickness ravishing my body today.

I knew that was no chance of me eating anything today, the little bit of water from my bedside table that I had tried to drink had made me more nauseous. My head was swimming and my mouth pooling with saliva. I hadn’t puked yet but I wouldn’t be surprised if it came on sooner rather than later. My baby had thankfully not made me sicker than I already was, no extra kicking or hiccups, I had read that was a thing at 26 weeks, your baby hiccuping in your belly. 

I had wished for Theta, My Doctor, a lot in the last 6 months but today I really wanted him. The empty side of the bed, emptier than before despite the fact that he had never set foot in this room. I remember the time I was sick when he still had big ears and wore leather, he hadn’t left me alone despite his idea that distance between himself and companions was the best way to avoid getting hurt. I missed my mom too, she had always been so attentive when I was sick, the mama bear that she was. I missed the chicken soup that Mickey used to get me from the deli down the street. I had been pretty good at bottling up all the pain at losing them, only letting out tears at night muffled by my pillow. I felt so awful that I didn’t have the energy to cry but the pressure in my head only making my headache work. 

A gentle knock on my door made me remember that I have a companion who lives on board. I had forgotten about Martha amid nausea and pain racking my body today. I didn’t have the energy to call for her to come in, but Sister must have relayed in some hums that it was okay to come in cause the door opened a crack and a body slipped through before the light from the hallway could seep under my bedsheets. 

“Hey Rose,” Martha whispered as she walked closer to my bed. “I gathered from the TARDIS hums that you weren’t feeling too well.”

I let out my own affirmative groan, I couldn’t do much more than that.

“Ok, I’m gonna have to examine you a bit, just make sure nothing is wrong with the baby or its not latent effects from the gamma radiation. I’m gonna go get somethings from the med bay, I’ll be right back.” She said quietly. 

I didn’t bother responding, she would understand. I just laid there under the covers as the door clicked open and closed. The TARDIS let out a couple more low hums before the door opened and closed again. I heard something rolling into the room with Martha, it sounded like she had to shut the door with her foot, her hands must have been full.

“Oh, thanks for the table TARDIS.” I heard her say shocked with the sound of her setting things down. “Okay, Rose, I’m back. I wanna check on the baby first, can I get to your belly.”

I unwrapped myself from my blanket for the first time in how knows how many hours. A glance over to the left and I saw the table that hadn’t been there last night. It was covered with medical supplies and other things I couldn’t see. I looked over at Martha, she had her stethoscope around her neck, I was glad she hadn’t broken out her doctor coat.

After an ultrasound, a blood test, and more tests I didn’t understand, Martha diagnosed me with a small case of the flu. Plain old human flu, not pregnancy sickness, not an alien disease, not my new alien DNA rebelling against myself. Martha gave me a steroid shot and prescribed some rest and fluids via IV because of my nausea and some painkillers for my headache. 

“I’ll check on you in a few hours, Rose. If you are up to it, I’m gonna want you to eat something but we will see how it goes. Don’t worry about me, I’ll explore a bit, find the library and that media room you mentioned. If you need anything have the TARDIS get my attention.” She said as she packed everything up that she had used to check on me. 

I gave a small groan of acknowledgment before I pulled the blanket back up to my head and tried to get comfortable again. 

\--------------------

**Martha**

It was weird to have breakfast without Rose this morning but I had just assumed she was tired and had slept in when I didn’t see her in the consul room. I was just finishing the last of my tea when the TARDIS began flashing the lights and humming wildly. I jumped out of my seat, freaked. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do, I stood for a second before I figured something is wrong. Rose was nowhere to be seen and I needed to figure out what was happening. 

“Is something wrong?” I asked the ceiling.

She stopped humming wildly and let out an affirmative hum. I knew the difference between negative and affirmative from listening to her and Rose talk. I didn’t know if Rose knew that the TARDIS was humming along with whatever she was saying in her head. 

“Are we gonna die?” I asked.

Negative hum.

“Is it Rose?”

Affirmative hum touched with worry. 

“Ok, that isn’t good. Is it the Baby?” I asked again.

Unsure hmm.

“Ok, that good is still. It might be bad, but so far so good. Is Rose in her room?”

Affirmative hum.

“Will she let me into her room?”

Affirmative hum.

“It’s the dark brown door, right? The one across from me?”

Affirmative hum.

“Ok, I’ll go check on her first then I’ll get anything I need from the Med Bay. I’m sure you have anything and everything I could need.”

I didn’t phrase it as a question but she hummed affirmatively again. I chuckled as I made my way down the hallway briskly. I hesitated with my fist raised to knock on the door, the TARDIS hummed again and I knocked before making my way into her room. 

\------------------

After making sure she was okay and putting all the med supplies away I made my way to my room and grabbed my phone. I replied to my parents with a modern and told them a PG version of what had happened in New York leaving out Daleks, Pigmen, and an army. I texted my sister back and told her that I would be back in London for her work gala and asked if I could bring Rose as my plus one. Finally, I opened a group text with Donna and Sarah Jane and texted them about the gender reveal party. 

Sarah Jane was quick to respond excitedly.  **Oh, yes! I would absolutely love to do that. We can do it at my house, we gave even make it a baby shower too. My backyard is pretty big. How are you gonna do the gender reveal? Cake or something? I know a couple of good bakers, I can text you the number if you want to order it.**

I responded to her message in the group text.  **Yeah, I was thinking about a cake. Baby shower/reveal sounds good, I think she will love it. I would love the numbers. When do we want to do it? I have a thing with my sister on May 5th and I wanted to bring Rose.**

Donna joined in.  **Oh, that sounds amazing. I think she’ll love it. How bout the Friday before? On the 4th, I don’t work on Fridays? Is it just gonna be the 3 of us? Sarah Jane, I know you have a son, would he like to stay? My granddad wants to meet Rose, I would love to bring him if we are gonna make it a bigger thing.**

Sarah Jane responded.  **555-555-5555. The 4th works for me, and I’m sure the TARDIS can make it work for Martha and Rose. How bout we start at noon and see where the day takes us? I’ll start getting everything, I’ll make some lunch and we can have games and whatnot. I’m sure between the three of us we can pull off a great party for Rose. Oh my son, Luke, will love to be here, maybe not the entire time though. And I’ll have our neighbors stop by for a bit too, they have met her a few times. Rose doesn’t have a lot of people anymore, I think if we can get some more people here, it might really mean something to her. I have a couple of old friends I want her to meet, Donna you should bring your granddad and Martha if any of your family wants to come I think it would be nice. Does that work for everyone?**

I replied.  **Yeah, I’ll get them to come and your right Sarah Jane, I think she would really enjoy more people. I know my parents will come, my sister probably but I don’t know about my brother. I doubt he would really enjoy it. How many people are we talking about here? So I know for the cake.**

Donna was quick to respond.  **It’ll only be me and my granddad. So two for me.**

Sarah Jane next.  **I still have to call and invite Barbra, Ian, and the Brigadier but I’m sure they will come. They used to travel with the Doctor, some of us have formed a sort of “club” not that we would have ever told him. They will love to meet her and I’m sure she will enjoy meeting them. So, me, Luke, them, and maybe 4 of my neighbors. 9 for me.**

I counted and replied.  **So that is 3 of us. 2 for Donna. And 9 for Sarah Jane. And 3 of my family. So 17 total? That sound right?**

Donna replied.  **Yup. I gotta go back to work but I will think of some ideas for the shower and let you know. Let me know if I have to do anything.**

Sarah Jane responded.  **Ok, I am going to plan food and whatnot. Let me know if there are any allergies or anything. I’ll probably order catering, I don’t know if I want to cook for 17 people but I’ll see.**

I responded.  **Yeah OK, whatever you wanna do, it’s your house. I’ll make sure we are there on time. I assume we are going to surprise her?**

Sarah Jane was quick to respond.  **Oh yeah! See you guys in a couple of days, I don’t know how long it’ll be for you though.**

At that, I closed my phone and set it back down on my bedside table. I felt tired and was surprised to see that it was only 1130A or at least simulated 1130A. A small part of me still tired from yesterday wanted to take a nap but the bigger part of me wanted to explore the TARDIS some more. Rose had mentioned a media room and library but I doubted that was all that was in here. 

I looked up at the ceiling. “Is she sleeping?”

She hummed affirmatively.

“The IV isn’t compromised is it?”

She hummed negatively.

“Ok good. I’ll check on her in a bit but you’ll let me know if anything goes wrong?”

She hummed a “yes”.

“Cool, now I bet you have lots of fun rooms to explore. You won’t let me get too lost will you?” I said with a smile as I stood up and dusted my jeans off. 

She let out a playful hum, neither a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’.

“Well, this is gonna be fun,” I said as I left my room and randomly turned down the different hallways appearing to branch off of the main hall. 

She let out another hum, this one encouraging.

“Is this an American Football Field?” I screamed at the first door I opened.

She let out an amused hum.

\-------------------

**Rose**

Three days later I was finally feeling better. Martha had been keeping a close eye on me throughout that last couple of days and she had really made sure I was doing okay. Having an actual doctor on board was really helpful when you were sick, and within days the case of flu I had was nowhere to be seen. 

This morning I was up l, eating breakfast hungrily, finally able to keep more than chicken noodle soup and water down. I had a plate full of eggs, toast, and sausage. 

_ "I'm glad you are feeling better, Wolf. I was worried about you, I'm glad the doctor was here to take care of you."  _ I missed you too, love. Thank you for making sure she took care of me. Is that what we are calling her now, the doctor? " _ Yes. I quite like it, but if you don't like it, cause of him…."  _ Stop right there. I think it is an adorable nickname and you can use it. And we can't keep tiptoeing around mentions of him, he is gone and that is that. I would rather look back at memories with a smile than cry and avoid everything about him. " _ I think that is very admirable. Alright, Sister, we shall do that from now on. Oh, the doctor is coming." _

I looked up to see Martha entering the room, she looked happy to see me eating. "Good Morning, feeling better? I see you are eating." She asked as she made herself a cup of tea.

"Oh blimey yeah. I'm starved. Thank you for taking care of me while I was sick. I'm sure you were pretty bored just chilling here. You are a really good friend." I said to her. 

"Oh, it wasn't a problem, me and the TARDIS figured it out. I explored and she alerted me if there was anything wrong with you. I've got the basic hums down. Yes, no, maybe, playful, etc. There are some really cool things here the football field, 7 pools and a couple of hot tubs, a bowling alley, and those are only some of the things I found." She said amazed as she sat down. 

"Oh yeah, she has everything and anything you could think of. I don't think I even know the extent of what she has." I said with a smile.

" _ You don't."  _

"Oh wow, she just said that I don't. Nice to know, Sister." I said sarcastically to the ceiling. I looked to Martha, "Anything you wanna do today? I'm sure we can go find something to do in the universe."

"Actually my sister, Tish, has a gala for her job and she invited us to go. It’s on the 5th of May." She said with a smile, I could tell there was something more to this visit. "And I texted Donna and Sarah Jane about the gender reveal. They can do the day before if you wanna go to that."

"Are you sure your sister wants me there? And we can definitely go visit them for the gender reveal. I can go set course in a few minutes."I asked skeptically. I only met Trish once, I don't understand why she would want me at her work party. 

"Well technically you're my plus one but she seemed excited at the prospect of seeing you again. Come on, I think it'll be fun." She convinced me.

"Oh, all right. I suppose I should change out of my lazy clothes if we are going to a small party. What time did Donna and SJ say to come?” I asked standing up and putting my dishes in the sink. I would do the dishes later or Sister would. It depends on how nice she is feeling.

“12:15, I’ll have to get changed too. Meet in the consul room in half an hour?” She said putting her cup in the sink as well.

“Yeah sounds good. See you in a bit.” I said walking out and towards my room. Opening my door I saw that SIster was playing dress-up. There were 3 dresses on my bed, all different styles. One navy blue with a floral lace overlay, one gold sparkly maxi dress, and one white dress covered in ruffles. 

_ “Do you like my choices?”  _ Yes, love. I think I’ll go with the blue one. “ _ Good, that’s my favorite.”  _ I think you are an amateur fashion designer. “ _ Why thank you.”  _

Half an hour later I was in the consul room putting in the time and date for Sarah Jane’s house and the small party. Martha walked in wearing a marron jumpsuit, the color similar to her favorite jacket. 

"Ready to go?" She asked as she walked up to the consul. 

"Yeah, it’s all set. Hey, I was thinking about it, would you like to know how to fly the TARDIS? We can start you out with basic commands and build up if you want?" I said hesitantly, I didn't look up to see her face. I didn't know what I was so nervous about it.

_ “I would love for her to learn how to fly, great idea, Wolf.” _

"Learn how to fly the TARDIS? Isn't it really hard?" She said. I saw out of the corner of my eye that she was fingering the buttons on the section she was standing in front of. 

"Not really, and I'd be there to help the whole time. If you don't want to, you don't have to. I just thought it might be fun." I said ready to move on to the next topic. 

"No, don't think I don't want to. I totally do, I just figured that it was kinda your thing. I'd love to learn." Martha said quickly. 

_ “This will be fun.” _

I looked up at her with a smile, "Really, that's great. We can start after the thing with your sister. And anyway, it’s time to go." I said as I pulled the lever next to me. Within seconds we were landing in SJ’s backyard right on time. 

“Hey, before we go,” I opened a compartment on the consul and pulled out a key on a chain. I held it out for her. 

“Really?” She asked.

“I should have given you it before, I’m sorry I forgot,” I said a bit embarrassed.

“That’s okay. I forgive you.” She took it from me and put it around her neck. It didn’t match her outfit but I didn’t think she cared much, she was beaming ear to ear. 

“Nice,” I nodded, and then it was time to go.

Martha raced to the door and turned to look at me. "You coming?"

"Yesh yeah," I said as I walked slowly towards her. "Someone is excited to share the news of my baby."

"This is gonna be a lot of fun!" She said defensively. Once I was right behind her she opened the door and led me out. 

My mouth dropped open in shock at what I saw.

_ “Surprise!” _

The backyard was decked out for a party and there were a lot more people than just SJ, Luke, and Donna. There was a baby shower banner, lots of balloons, and both pink and blue decorations. There were food lining tables, the gender cake at the end of the table, a long empty table with enough seats to fit all of the people, a whole table full of presents, a couple of different game stations, and more people than I knew. 

I saw Martha’s parents Francine and Clive along with her sister Trish being conveniently distracted by Sarah Jane and not looking at the newly appearing Police Box. I saw 4 people I didn’t recognize talking with Donna on the other side of the backyard. Luke and his neighbor friends were sitting at one of the tables in the backyard. I looked over to Martha who was waiting for my reaction.

“You did this?” I said shocked pointing to the party.

She nodded with a wide smile. “Yeah, Donna and Sarah Jane were a big help too. We wanted to do something good for you.”

“So surprise baby shower was what you came up with?” I asked amazed.

“Yeah, you don’t hate it do you? If you hate it we can leave, they won’t be mad.” Martha said spiraling a little. 

“No, I love it. But I don’t know some of these people, who are they?” I said looking at the ones I don’t know. My eyes were starting to burn at the sweetness of the gesture.

“Donna invited her granddad, he has apparently wanted to meet you for a while. You know my parents and sister. And Sarah Jane wanted to have you meet some old friends of the Doctor’s. Barbara and Ian, and the Brigadier. I think she said they used to travel with him but I don’t know more than that.” She said gesturing to the people near Donna. 

“This is wonderful!” I said wetly as I reached and pulled her into a hug. Once I released her I saw Sarah Jane coming over, followed by Martha’s family. 

SJ was quick to pull me into a hug and I buried my head in her shoulder, crying a little. “Oh, sweetie!” She cried wrapping me up tightly. After a moment I calmed myself down and pulled out of her arms. 

“Thank you guys, this is amazing. I never expected anything like this.” I told her and looked at Martha too. Donna and the others were walking up as well. I greeted Francine, Clive, and Trish before Donna pulled me into a hug.

“Hey Martian, happy baby shower!” Donna hollered as she wrapped me up. “Hey, I want you to meet someone. This is my Granddad, Wilfred Mott, he wasn’t at Christmas Eve cause he was sick. He has wanted to meet you for a while.” She let me go and pushed me towards an older man next to her. 

“Hiya, Rose! I have heard a lot about you and I want to thank you. I never liked that Lance and if it weren’t for you who knows what would have happened,” He said as he pulled me into a hug. 

“Nice to meet you too, Wilfred. Yeah, he was a bit of a bad egg, huh.” I said with a knowing smile as I hugged him back. “Thank you for coming to this party.”

“Oh, of course, after all the stuff Donna has told me about you there was no stopping me,” He said with a smile.

After that, Wilfred, Donna, Martha, and Martha’s family left to go look at the food and game setups. I gave a small wave to Luke and his friends before I looked back at SJ, she gave me a smile. Then gestured to the others that had been holding back before. The three people who used to know the Doctor. The woman of the group stepped up first.

“Hi Rose, I’m Barbara Chesterson. I know you don’t know us, Sarah Jane has told us a little about you though. Ian and I traveled with the Doctor and Susan back in the ’60s. It’s really nice to meet you.” Barbara was tall with coiffed dark hair, dressed nicely in a turtleneck. She gave me a small wave and elbowed who I assumed to be Ian. 

He was quick to respond to her prompt. “Hey Rose, as my wife told you we traveled with the Doctor a long time ago, his first incarnation. It’s really nice to meet you. Sarah Jane said that you and the Doctor were married before he got trapped. I’m really glad that you two were able to find each other before he..well I don’t have to tell you.” Ian was well dressed with cleanly parted dark hair. 

Neither Ian nor Barbara looked old enough to have traveled with the Doctor in the ‘60s and I was about to question it before The TARDIS chimed in my head. 

_ “They have aged very slowly, due to exposure to certain elements during the time they traveled. They still age, just much slower than most humans.”  _ Oh, that makes sense. You sound happy to see them, did you like them? “ _ Oh very much, they were very sweet, even considering the Abandoner technically kidnapped them. Susan loved them.”  _ Why am I not surprised by the fact he kidnapped them.

I came back to the real world to hear SJ say, “Yeah, so she does this. Tunes out randomly, she and the TARDIS are psychically connected and have conversations all the time. She and the TARDIS are one and the same, two sides of the same coins. She will be back in a few seconds.”

“Sorry,” I said sheepishly looking at all of them staring at me in wonderment. “It happens, if it helps Barbara and Ian she said she missed you.”

They both chuckled and walked over to give the TARDIS a pat on the door. I heard them murmuring to her but didn’t listen in. I had one more person to meet. 

SJ gestured him forward, “Rose this is the Brigadier. He never traveled in the TARDIS but he was friends with the 3rd version of him but also knew the 2nd and 4th. He helped formed UNIT.” He was around Sarah Jane’s age, maybe a bit older. His hair still dark but going grey with his military stance and strong form.

“Nice to meet you, Rose. Most people call me Al or Alister, anymore, I haven’t been the Brigadier in years but these three won’t listen to me. Any woman that can get the Doctor to settle down is a pretty good woman in my book. He was a weird one to crack he was.” Al said reaching out to shake my hand. 

“Haha, thanks. It wasn’t easy but I managed. It’s really nice to meet you. I’m always excited to know more about the Doctor’s past.” I said remembering the snippets he would tell me during the moments he would open up more.

“Oh I’m sure between the 4 of us here we can come up with some good stories. I know the circumstances of the baby could be better but really congratulations.” Al said gesturing to my belly. Ian and Barbara walked back over to us and seconded his congratulations. 

Sarah Jane clapped her hands together once and we all looked at her. “Ok, we have food, games, and later baby cake. Let’s have some fun.”

\-------------------

“Ok ladies and gentlemen it is time to cut the cake and find out what this baby is!” Sarah Jane said as we gathered around the table with the camp. I held a knife in my right hand and a pie cutter in my left. The anticipation of knowing what I was having was bubbling up in my belly, the baby kicking lightly to let me know they were excited too.

“Are you ready?” SJ asked over my shoulder.

“No..yes..uh...yeah.” I stuttered my way through my emotions. 

Martha pushed the cake a little closer to me, it was adorable 3 layers covered in white frosting with both baby blue and baby pink decorations. With the words “What am I?” Written on top in a mess of blue and pink lettering. 

“Whenever you are ready, Rose,” Martha said. 

I took a deep breath before looking at the people surrounding me. None of them were who I would have imagined here for me a year ago, some of them I had only met today but at the same time, I felt like we all belonged. The beginning of something wonderful, maybe, I hoped so. That didn’t mean I didn’t miss my family, my mom, and Theta, My Doctor. Mickey, my little brother or sister I didn’t know, and even Pete who I barely knew but still missed. Blimey, I even missed Sheeren, my old best mate but she would never understand, she didn’t get it when I left to travel with the Doctor why would she get it now when I showed up out of the blue pregnant. I looked up at SJ and smiled encouragingly. 

I moved the knife up and made the first cut, it came out clean on the first cut. My hands shook on the second cut more than the first. I used the pie cutter to get under the slice and pulled it out to set it on the plate next to me. 

The inside was dyed a vivid blue.

I was having a boy. 

I looked at Martha for confirmation, she nodded.

I vaguely heard the crowd around me cheering but my heartbeat was roaring in my ears. 

I looked at Sarah Jane then back to the cake then back to Sarah Jane. She nodded. 

The light in my head was bobbing around excitedly. 

I felt pulses of love and excitement burst through our bond.

I was having a boy. 

Tears began to well up in my eyes and a sob crawled up my throat.

I was having a boy, a little boy. 

Blimey, what on earth was I going to do with a boy.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave some love in the form of comments, kudos, and bookmarks!


	19. Gala

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ready for a monster completely of human making? Cause Lazarus is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave some love in the form of comments, kudos, and bookmarks!
> 
> But I have a question for you.
> 
> What is your favorite adventure of the Doctors that you are waiting to see Rose take a crack at? Leave me a comment with your answer.

**Chapter 19**

**Rose**

**Gala**

The morning after the baby shower I woke up in SJ’s guest room, I laid there for a moment thinking about what had happened yesterday. I had met old friends of the Doctor, made new friends, and found out what kind of baby I was having. I was having a boy, a son, the Doctor’s son. This son would probably remind me of him every day and that was both a blessing and a curse. To see what parts of him survived and lived on in his son, I can only imagine that I will be crying and smiling every day because of it. 

“ _ Good Morning Sister.”  _ Morning, love. “ _ What is bothering you today?”  _ I’m just thinking about the baby boy.  _ “Did you want to have a girl? I know humans put a lot of weight into gender.”  _ No, not really, I didn’t care either way. I wanted the baby to be healthy, I’m just scared that a boy will remind me of the Doctor. I’m scared that I will see too much of him, that my enjoyment of my boy will be tainted by memories of him. 

“ _ That makes sense and I think you will see parts of him in the baby but I also know that you will be a wonderful mother despite the influence of the Abandoner. You will enjoy these moments, even if you are reminded that he is not here, that he is missing this. It won’t all be nice and neat, no parenting is easy but I have no doubt that you will be great at it.”  _ You have too much faith in me, I think but thank you. “ _ I don’t, remember I am you and you are me. I know you and the potential you have.”  _ Agree to disagree? “ _ I suppose, I’ll be proven right eventually.” _

I rolled my eyes as I got up, out of bed. I could hear noise from the kitchen and my stomach growled. Baby boy is hungry today it seems. A quick glance in the mirror told me I was presentable enough to have breakfast and I made my way downstairs. 

SJ, Martha, and Luke were already in the kitchen. Martha having slept in her room on the TARDIS instead of going home with her parents since she had given up her apartment. SJ had a cup of tea ready for me and handed it to me as I entered the kitchen.

“Morning, sweets. How are you doing this morning?” She said as she turned back to the stove where she was cooking something that smells delicious. Luke sat next to me and Martha was leaning against the counter drinking some tea of her own. The news was low in the other room but no one was really listening to it. 

“I’m ok, sister talked me out of my minor panic attack this morning so far so good,” I said nonchalantly. 

Martha and Luke’s heads both turned toward me with scared looks but Sarah Jane didn’t react. “Freaking out about being a boy mom? Huh? Yeah, I remember that and I didn’t have a couple of months to prepare as you do. You’ll be fine.” She laughed. 

Martha and Luke relaxed at her words. “Oh, okay. I get it.” Martha said before going back to her tea.

“Yeah pretty much but remember, yours is just artificially created human, while weird, it’s still human. ” I said gesturing to Luke next to me, Luke looking slightly offended but didn’t say anything. “Mine is a legitimate alien hybrid that we have no idea what to do with. What if he comes out already talking? What if he has two hearts?” I looked at Martha with wide eyes. “Does he have two hearts?” She looked confused. “Nevermind. But seriously what am I gonna do with that?”

“Rose, Rose, darling, you will be fine.” Sarah Jane came over and gave me a hug. “If the baby comes out talking then he comes out talking, which with that gob of the Doctor’s, I actually wouldn’t be too surprised. If the baby has two hearts then who cares, he is already an alien so I think you will be fine. Everything will be okay, alright?” She pulled back from the hug a bit and stared at me for a moment. I nodded and she smiled before going back to making breakfast. 

Soon we were done eating breakfast and had all gone our separate ways to get ready for the day. Luke had plans with his friends and was gone before 10, Martha and I were going to Tish’s gala later today and didn’t have any other plans and SJ had some journalism work to get done today. Martha and I were chilling in the living room when Francine called Martha’s cell. 

“Hey mom, Rose says hi,” She said into the phone after I motioned my greetings. 

I couldn’t hear the other side of the phone call so I was playing catch up on the conversation, Martha silently laughing at me trying to eavesdrop. 

“Wait what? Tish is on where?” Martha immediately made a grab for the TV remote and my interest piqued more than just for curiosity. “Channel what? 10? Ok.” She lowered her cell phone but didn’t hang up the call with Francine.

Martha turned the TV on and tuned it to channel 10, there was a press conference on and I could see Tish standing next to the elderly man talking. Martha turned the volume up and we watched the press conference. 

“The details are top secret...but I can tell you that tonight I will demonstrate a device that with a push of a single button. I will change what it means to be human.” The old man said. Seconds later all kinds of reporters were asking questions, Martha muted the TV we had heard all we needed to. 

“ _ This gala is going to be interesting, changing what it means to be human can’t be very sustainable.” _

Martha and I looked at each other with wide eyes. “That the gala we are going to tonight?” I asked double-checking.

“Uh-huh,” Martha nodded.

“Wonderful, this is gonna be fun,” I said looking back at the muted TV. The elderly man had long left the screen but Tish was still there, it looked like she was answering some more questions. 

“ _ You might want to take your jacket tonight.”  _ The cloaked one? “ _ Yes, we don’t know what we are walking into. It might be safer if you don’t appear pregnant and as humans tend to believe more vulnerable.”  _ Ok, I’ll do that. Might be weird to explain to Tish and Francine how I suddenly don’t look 27 weeks pregnant anymore but I’ll take the jacket. 

“ _ There is something happening, I can’t see it but time is uncomfortable, it’s like it’s trying to avoid something but can’t. Like something big is happening, we should proceed with caution from now on. Take the jacket anywhere that you can be seen by others than our Pack.”  _ That’s not ominous at all, is it the old guy?  _ “No, it’s further off than tonight. But something happens tonight, something preluding what is coming.  _ “Ok, I’ll keep my eyes out, if you figure out what’s going on with time, let me know.”

She didn’t respond and I shook my head to come back to reality. Martha was looking at me, patiently waiting. I gave her a sorry smile, she waved it off. “OK, I am gonna call Tish she what I can find out about tonight. Is there anything specific the TARDIS said?”

“Nothing about tonight, she thinks something is coming, not tonight though. Something bad might be happening soon. From now on when we aren’t here or in the TARDIS or other safe places, I am going to be wearing the cloaking jacket I was wearing in New York. She thinks it best I don’t showcase that I am pregnant to anyone we don’t know. That means we are going to have to explain to your family tonight how I suddenly don’t look pregnant.” I explained, her eyes widened with worry when I told her the TARDIS’s fear but she nodded her head at the idea of the jacket. 

“I’m sure we can come up with something, that or we could just tell them the truth,” Martha said as she stood up from the couch. 

She had said it jokingly but some part of me thought it might be a good idea. I didn’t want her to have to lie about me and my son for the rest of her life. I didn’t bring it up yet though, I would let it be her decision and I didn’t want to influence her one way or another. 

“You know that you can if you want to, that is. Tell them the truth, I’ll help you prove it and everything.” I said watching her reaction. 

“Yeah, I know. I’m gonna go call Tish and then we can start getting ready for tonight, ok?” She said ignoring the real topic of the conversation. 

“Ok, see you in a bit,” I said watching her walk towards the kitchen and presumably the back door.

“ _ If she wants to tell them, she will. She knows she has the option.”  _ Yeah I know, I just wanna make sure she is okay with all of this.  _ “She knew what she was getting into when she decided she wanted to travel with you.”  _ I know, I think I’m gonna take a nap before we get ready. This evening is shaping up to be exciting. 

With that, I got up off the couch and made my way back up to the guest room. “ _ You know that room is practically yours right.”  _ Oh, hush.

\--------------------

Martha and I walked down the street to the entrance of the gala, dressed to the nines. Martha was wearing a red velvet dress and me a black floor-length dress with lace detailing, not that you could see much of it. My navy jacket buckled up tight around my invisible baby belly. 

“You know the Doctor hated getting dressed up for things, always said black tie meant something bad was gonna happen,” I said as we walked. “Something bad happened wherever we went, so I never really saw the difference. Except for the fact that he looked really dashing, that was always fun even before we were really together.”

“Well, we already know something bad might be happening tonight, so that's true in a way,” Martha said chuckling. 

“That’s true, but we are gonna figure it out. What did you tell Francine and Tish about my belly?” I asked as I noticed Francine a little ahead there was a man with her but I couldn’t see much past the pack of his head, they hadn’t seen us yet. Tish must have been inside working.

“Leo is here too, but I told them that you were gonna look different tonight, different than you had yesterday and that it was really complicated to explain. I told them that if after whatever happens here tonight, they wanted to know. I would tell them.” She said as she noticed them as well. 

“Ok, so avoid it until they can’t stand it. Solid plan,” I said with a smirk. She gave me a small glare but we had reached the entrance of the gala. 

LAZARUS LABORATORIES

The name on the building gave me a slight pause, the religious context with the name made me curious as to what was happening here. There was a red carpet leading up the stairs and Martha’s brother and mother were waiting by the bottom. We exchanged greetings and both of them looked suspiciously at my nonexistent belly but didn’t say anything. We walked into the laboratories where the ball was being held. There was a large machine on display in the center of the room, it was giving off a blue light. People in black tie and evening gowns were milling around, caterers were carrying trays of hors d’oeuvres around. 

Tish appeared out of the crowd and gave Martha a hug, she did the same thing her family had done with staring at my belly but she didn’t say anything else. She gave hugs to Leo, Francine, and she gave me a quick one-armed hug. I was quietly pleased to be included but didn’t say anything. 

“You all look great, Leo nice of you to wear a tie for me. What do you guys think, impressive huh?” Tish said gesturing to the huge lab and the machine. 

“Very, it’s all super posh, huh,” Martha said admiring the room as well. Leo and Francine wandered away after some of the caterers carrying food. I was looking with a bit more critical eye, the machine was particularly intriguing. I covertly got my sonic out of my jacket pocket and scanned the large machine. 

“So Tish, Lazarus, he is your boss, right?” I asked her, waiting for the information I soniced to be analyzed. 

“Yeah, Rose. Professor Lazarus, yes. I’m part of his executive staff, the head of the PR department.” Tish said, shocking Martha.

“When did you get that promotion? Tish, you didn’t say anything!” She gave her a small slap on the arm. 

“It was while you were finishing the program, you were so busy with the fast track. I even put this whole event together.” Tish explained. 

I changed the subject, “Do you know what the professor is doing tonight? I saw the press conference, “change what it means to be human” huh. That’s quite a statement. Is that a sonic Micro-field manipulator?”

“Yeah, Rose. I have no idea what you just asked me. There is a reason I’m in PR, not sciences. I gotta get back to work, I’ll catch up with you guys later.” Tish said before she walked away back into the crowd. 

“Seriously though, what did you just ask her?” Martha asked me. I didn’t have time to answer cause Leo and Francine were coming back. We made some small talk together, but before we could really start much of a conversation someone started clinking a glass to get people’s attention. We all turned to see Professor Lazarus standing in front of his large machine. 

“Ladies and gentleman, I am Professor Richard Lazarus, and tonight I’m going to perform a miracle. It is, I believe, the most important advance since Rutherford split the atom. The biggest leap since Armstrong stood on the moon.” Lazarus said.

“ _ Well, he is one proud peacock. That’s the saying, right?”  _ I kept my face straight but she knew that I was laughing in my head.

“Tonight you will watch and wonder. But tomorrow, you will wake to a world which will be changed forever.” Lazarus finished his monologue. 

Martha and I exchanged weighted looks but turned back to see Lazuras opening a door in the center of the machine. He walked in and closed the door behind him. There was a blonde lady wearing a white coat standing next to the machine, she made sure the door closed behind him before going to a control panel and activating the machine. She pressed a large red button and the machine turned on, a bright blue light emanating from it, I had to squint to still be able to see. 

The device began letting out an awful sound, and the parts surrounding the center stood up and the machine began spinning wildly and you could see the electricity going between the different moving parts. 

“ _ It’s overloading.” _

Suddenly an alarm went off, the two women at the control center began trying to figure out what was happening. It didn’t look like they were gonna be successful. “Something’s wrong,” I said before I made a mad dash for the control center. I jumped and slid over the counter, my dress flying with me. There was smoke coming off the computers and the two scientist ladies seemed to be at a loss. 

I wiped my sonic out and used it on the machine. I could hear an old lady screaming about me but didn’t listen. I was using the sonic and pushing a bunch of buttons to make it power down.

“If this thing goes up, it’ll take the whole building with it!” I heard Martha scream at the old lady. “Is that what you want? She knows what she is doing so let her be!”

The machine was getting faster and faster, more and more unstable. I slid back over the counter and reached into the back of the computer pulling the power line. Without power, the machine began to slow down, the light and the squealing calming down as well.

Martha ran forward for the door and began pulling it open to get the Professor out of there. “Open it up, Martha!” I said redundantly as I ran over towards her and the door. 

The door was open, the small room full of smoke but I could see the form of the Professor still standing up. He stumbled out as if he was drunk but I could see it was something much more than that. The man that came out of the machine was not the same that had gone in. He was younger, he was a young man. He had to have been 50 years younger than the man who had walked into the machine. 

“Ladies and Gentlemen, I am Richard Lazarus. I am 76 years old and I am reborn!” The man said.

“ _ That isn’t good.”  _ Nope, that was what I was scared of, Sister. 

The crowd was amazed, cheering with wonder. Martha and I stared in terror at the man who had just rewritten what it meant to be human. He really was right. 

The old woman who had been yelling at me earlier was amazed. “He did it, he actually did it.”

A couple of minutes later he was surrounded by reporters and adoring fans. Marth and I watched from a couple of feet away. “That can’t be the same guy. It’s impossible. It must be a trick.” Martha said amazed. 

“No, it isn’t a trick. How I wish it were though.” I said staring at him.

“Well, then what happened?” She asked.

“Something awful, changed what it means to be human, just like he said he would,” I said as I watched the old woman push through the crowd and go to Lazarus. I couldn’t hear what they were talking about but their body language gave off pride and excitement. As I watched Lazarus seemed to have a muscle spasm. He played it off as if it was nothing but I was afraid of what that spasm could preclude. He then stole a plate of food from one of the caterers and began to wolf down the food, I decided then that it was time to talk to him. 

As I walked up the woman admonished him, “Richard!”

“I’m famished.” He said in explanation.

“That would be the energy deficit. That always happens with this kind of process.” I said without prompting, not even caring to hide that I had been eavesdropping. 

“You talk as if you see this every day, Miss…?” He said waiting for me to give my name. 

“Wolf, Lady Wolf. And no, not every day but I know enough about the process to have an idea.” I responded while Martha walked up behind me. 

“That’s not possible.” He said confidently. 

“You were using hypersonic sound waves to create a state of resonance,” I said, finding the proper terminology in the TARDIS section of my brain. 

“Oh I see, you understand the theory, Miss Wolf. Pardon my surprise.” He said to me, ignoring the Lady part of my name. 

“I know enough to understand that there is no way you could have predicted all possible variables and outcomes,” I said. 

“No experiment is entirely without risk,” Lazarus said indifferently, still eating the plate of food he had stolen. 

“That machine nearly blew, you could have killed everyone in this room, including yourself. Even if you had managed to escape the explosion, the machine would have scrambled you beyond recognition. It’s as if you stepped into a blender.” I could see now that trying to make him understand how dangerous this experiment was, was pointless. 

The old lady spoke up suddenly, I had almost forgotten that she was there. “You are not qualified to comment, Miss Wolf.” 

“I am the reason we are all still alive. If I hadn’t stopped it, we all would have exploded. And it’s Lady Wolf,” I said defensively. 

“ _ I think your proper title is inconsequential to them. He is riding high after his experiment, everyone is beneath him. Even the woman who defends him now. I am analyzing the different possibilities for what he did to himself but until he stabilizes I won’t know for sure.” _

“And I thank you for that, Miss Wolf. But that was a simple engineering issue. What happened within the capsule was exactly what was supposed to happen. No more, no less.” He said convinced, I wasn’t convinced, and apparently, neither was Martha. 

“You have no way of knowing that until you’ve run proper tests,” Martha said. 

The Professor just laughed. “Look at me! You can see what happened. I’m all the proof you need.” He said it as if that meant it fixed everything. 

“The device will be properly certified before we start to operate commercially.” The old lady chimed in. Martha reacted before I even had the chance. 

“Commercially? You are joking? That’ll cause chaos” Martha said. 

“Not chaos, change,” Lazarus said. “A chance for humanity to evolve, to improve.”

“This isn’t improving, this is all about money. You want to sell this to the highest bidder, who cares about the consequences. Those with the most money get to live a little longer.” I was getting fed up. 

“Not a little longer, Miss Wolf, a lot longer.” He declared. “Perhaps indefinitely.”

“Richard, we have things to discuss. Upstairs.” The old woman said, apparently she was done with our conversation. She led him away and he followed without complaint. 

“Goodbye, Miss Wolf.” He said, giving us a sarcastic wave. He stopped and turned back to us. “In a few years, you’ll look back and laugh at how wrong you were.” He reached out and Martha offered her hand. He leaned down and gave her a kiss on the back of her hand. She had trouble keeping her disgust off her face.

“Oh, he had no idea what he is dealing with. He can’t possibly know the damage he has done.” I said as we watched them walk into the elevator. 

“So what now?” Martha asked.

“Now, we use that handy dandy DNA sample that you just collected. We should be able to find an empty lab in this huge building full of laboratories. Want to do some tests?” I said, eyeing her hand with the DNA sample. 

“Well, glad to know that the cringy hand kiss was worth it.” She said looking at her hand. “Will’s hand kiss was so much better.”

I laughed at her as we walked off to find an empty lab, “Oh Martha. You truly are one of a kind.” 

\--------------------

We had found a lab on the 3rd floor pretty quickly. With no time to waste we ran the DNA through a microscope on the counter. The computer was hooked up to it and we could see the finding on it, instead of having to share the microscope. 

“ _ There look, the DNA.” _

“Amazing,” I said staring at the results.

“What?” Martha asked, not seeing what the TARDIS had pointed out to me.

“His DNA, it’s changing. Watch,” I said pointing back to the computer. She looked back just in time to see the DNA shift.

She gave a quiet shout in shock, “That’s impossible. It just changed, that’s not normal.”

“Well, that’s number two for impossible things tonight. This is certainly getting interesting, don’t you love it when that happens?”

“Oh yeah, but this means that Lazarus has changed his own molecular patterns. Is that even possible?” She asked as we watched the DNA change back and forth.

_ “Hypersonic sound waves to destabilize the cell structure. Then a metagenic program to manipulate the coding in the protein strands.” _

“Hypersonic sound waves were able to destabilize the cell structure. Then some other fancy science stuff that the TARDIS understands and I don’t. In English, he hacked into his own genes and instructed them to rejuvenate. To regenerate, even.”

“Regenerate? Never mind. But the genes they are still mutating now.” She said, thankfully leaving my slip alone.

“Because he missed something. There is something in the DNA that’s been activated now, something that was dormant before. Now whatever it is won’t let him stabilize, something that’s trying to change him.”

“Change him into what?” Martha asked, fear evident in her voice. 

“That’s what I don’t know, and that is making me nervous. We need to find out what he is gonna be though.” I said trying to think of all the possibilities that could happen with what Richard Lazuras had done to himself.

“The woman from earlier, they were going upstairs,” Martha said. 

“Well, let’s go then, Martha!” I said as we ran from the lab and went searching for the newly made young man. Only slightly scared of what we might find when we find him, or whatever he is now.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave some love in the form of comments, kudos, and bookmarks!
> 
> But I have a question for you.
> 
> What is your favorite adventure of the Doctors that you are waiting to see Rose take a crack at? Leave me a comment with your answer.


	20. Rejected Evolution

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave some love in the form of comments, kudos, and bookmarks!

**Chapter 20**

**Rose**

**Rejected Evolution**

We walked out of the elevator and into the top floor, the large office was dark. There was a miniature version of a cathedral on display but I didn’t stop to look at it for long. I found the light switch and the room lit up. The office was long, and narrow the desk sitting at the end with the large window to its back.

We made our way towards the desk, “This is his office all right.” Martha said as we walked the length of it. 

“Well, he isn’t here, lovely,” I said looking around the office. 

“We can try back at...reception,” Martha said awkwardly. Her pause drew my attention to what she was staring at by the desk.

Skeleton legs and feet sticking out from behind the desk. 

Martha and I both ran forward to see her dead, dried, husk of a body. Her drink glass spilled on the floor next to her. Martha kneeled down next to her, I couldn’t because despite the cloaking jacket I could still feel the belly.

“ _ That’s unfortunate, she was rude but still.”  _

“That’s the lady from before. Lady Thaw, right?” Martha said.

“It’s what used to be her. It’s just a shell, all the life-energy drained out of her. Like a juiced fruit,” I shuddered, “ugg that’s a bad mental image.”

“ _ I agree, gross. Now that’s all I can picture and those images are coming from your side of our brain. Stop it!”  _

“Was it Lazarus?” Martha asked.

“Most likely, I don’t know what else could have done this, and since we don’t know what Lazarus is turning into it the best bet,” I explained to Martha.

“So he has changed already,” Marth asked.

“Not necessarily, his DNA is still in flux. The process must demand energy, the food from earlier, now Lady Thaw’s life energy. Unfortunately, I fear this might have been enough.” I said, my shared mind spinning with theories. Knowing he was in need of more energy, the possibilities of what he was changing into narrowing.

_ “There is a number of possibilities that he could be turning into, you’re right the possibilities are narrowing but it’s still too hard to tell.” _

“You think he’ll do this again, Rose?” Martha said aghast.

“Unfortunately, we need to find him,” I said, ushering her up and back towards the elevator. We were lucky the elevator was quick to arrive and we ran in, we needed to find Lazarus. Martha slammed the button for the first floor where the gala was being held. Unknown to us, the second elevator opened just as ours closed, letting out Lazarus and Tish.

We ran out of the elevator past a set of string players, neither Martha nor I could see Richard Lazarus. We pushed around and past other people all dressed to the nines, none the wiser to what could be happening right around them. 

“I can’t see him,” Martha said as we pushed past more of them.

“He can’t be far, just keep looking,” I said as I walked past Leo. I saw him stop Martha but I kept going, she could handle her brother. 

Before I could get very far Martha called me back. “Rose!” I turned and she waved me back. Francine had joined her children by the time I made it back to them. 

“Lazarus was getting cozy with Tish a few minutes ago, we just missed them going upstairs,” Martha said, putting a lot of weight in her words to get my attention.

“ _ Oh dear, you are going to need to find Tish immediately.”  _ No way.

I nodded tightly, acknowledging what she was saying. “Where did they go?’

“Upstairs, I think,” Leo said, taking a sip from his drink.

“Is everything okay, you two?” Francine asked Martha and me. We didn’t respond, Martha and I were making a mad dash for the elevator once again.

“Sorry, not now mum!” Martha said as we ran past her.

\------------------

Once again we ran out of the elevator, this was becoming a habit tonight. Unfortunately, the office was still empty, aside from Lady Thaw’s corpse of course. 

“Where are they?” Martha asked panting a bit. 

“The DNA while still in flux will give off a very specific energy signature,” I said digging in my pocket for my sonic. “I should be able to track it,” I said as I began scanning in a full circle around us, it didn’t pick anything up till I raised the sonic above my head.

“There!” I said staring at the ceiling.

“But this is the top floor!” Martha said, confused.

“Yeah, but there is a roof,” I said, putting my sonic away, Martha and I glanced at each other before making a run for the staircase that leads up to the roof. We made it to the roof and found Tish and Lazarus, Lazarus was regaling her with a quote by T.S. Eliot.

“Between the idea and the reality, between the motion and the act…” 

“...Falls the shadow.” I finished the quote before he had the chance. The universe literature side of my brain was one of my favorite TARDIS advancements. 

_ “I truly dislike it when bad guys sully a good quote.” _

“Rose!” Tish said shocked.

Lazarus ignored her, “Miss Wolf, you know your Eliot. I’m impressed.”

Martha walked up beside me catching Tish’s attention, “Martha, Rose, what are you doing here?”

“Tish, come away from him now.” Martha tried to wave her over, Tish hesitated.

“Don’t tell me what to do, Martha.” Tish resisted, still staying by the professor.

“I must admit, Richard. I’m surprised you have time for poetry and wooing. I thought you would be too busy defying the laws of nature and whatnot.” I said drawing his attention away from the Jones’s sisters.

“You’re right, Miss Rose. One lifetime is too short for me to do everything I’d like. I can only imagine what I’ll get done in two or three or four.” Lazarus said smugly. 

“ _ Oh dear, he has some unreachable goal if he wants 4 lifetimes.” _

I had to hold back an eye roll. “Sorry, man but it doesn’t work like that. People have to make use of their time, it depends on the way you live it. I have lived more in the last 4 years than I ever could have imagined a couple of years ago. It doesn’t matter how much time someone has, it’s how they spend it, who they spend it with.”

“But if it is the right person, what a gift that would be.” He said unflinchingly.

“Immortality? No, that’s not a gift, it’s a curse. Eventually, everyone comes to see that in the end. Look at you now, what you have done to yourself, you’ll see soon enough.” I warned, a bit of Bad Wolf coming out, the memory of seeing all of time just a faint imprint anymore but enough to leave a lasting effect.

“And who are you to judge me?” He finally sounded defensive.

“ _ Looks like you struck a chord somewhere, deep down.” _

“Tish, come over here.” Martha urged again. Tish listened finally but she and Martha got into a small argument about it. I didn’t listen to busy watching Lazarus, his transformation was overtaking his body. Watching him crunch and crack was almost enough to make me be sick. The sound effects were enough to draw the sisters out of their arguments, both stared at him in terror as he changed.

Before our eyes, Richard Lazarus turned into a lobster, scorpion, alien-looking creature. His face was still on the front of its head but that was the last recognizable thing about him. He had 4 arms coming out of his ribcage, that barely had enough skin to cover it. He had a large scorpion-like tail that was the same size as his body, his tail opened up to show extra pinchers. He stood up on his back legs and hovered over us.

“ _ Oh, that is a new one.” _

“RUN!” I shouted at the other girls, they didn’t hesitate. We managed to run into the stairwell before he could lung at us, I pulled the door behind us and soniced it, trying to give us a couple of extra seconds.

His growls echoed down the stairwell and into the elevator waiting for us. Martha was trying to calm down Tish in the elevator, Tish on the verge of a panic attack. I sonic the elevator closed and the buttons to go down. 

“Are you ok?” I heard Martha ask Tish.

“I was gonna snog him!” Tish exclaimed. We could hear the banging of Lazarus trying to get in from the roof, Tish jumped in shock. 

The elevator moved down the shoot quickly because of my sonic advancements. Within seconds the elevator reached the bottom floor but before it could open the whole building shuttered.

The force of the impacts caused an alarm to go off. Sirens went off in the building and a female electronic voice began saying, “Security One,” on repeat.

“What’s happening?” Martha asked Tish, the only one who might know the specific security protocols of the building.

“Uh, an intrusion. The thing trying to get in from the roof must have set it off. It triggers a security lockdown. Kills most of the power. Stops the lifts, seals the exits.” She listed. 

“I would hazard a guess and say he is breaking through the roof door,” I said. I quickly used my sonic to open the closed elevator door. Before I could get it open all the way we heard a louder crash and a triumphant growl. 

“He’s inside!” Martha said.

“We don’t have a lot of time!” I said as I pried the doors open finally. We ran out into the crowd, some of the people were looking around confused at the alarm but most of them weren’t fazed. 

“Tish, is there another way out of here?” I shouted over the alarm. Some of the people in the crowd looked at me as if I was crazy. 

“There’s an exit over in the corner but the alarm will have locked it by now.” She said pointing towards the exit. 

“ _ You need to get these people out, separating him from an energy source is the first thing you need to do. Dealing with him can wait, he might even become so unstabilized himself that he destroys himself.” _

“Martha,” I got her attention and threw her my sonic. “Setting 7, hurry.”

She grabbed it and ran for the door, Tish following her without complaint.

I jumped up on the machine’s platform, “Everyone! You need to get out of here, we are all in serious danger. The alarm isn’t a joke, make your way to the exits immediately.” 

A lady in the crowd laughed it off but before I could respond a giant window shattered and Lazuras crashed into the gala. He let out an awful roar and the crowd screamed before they all turned and ran for the door. Lazarus started destroying the ballroom, making a point to avoid his machine. I saw Francine and Leo standing in the crowd, they were staring in shock. Before I could run for them, Lazuras used his tail to throw a table at them. Leo pushed Francine out of the way but it hit him, knocking him to the ground. 

I heard Francine shout, “Leo!” 

I jumped down from the platform and helped him up and into Francine’s arms. I helped Leo out towards the door, Francine following her eyes still on the creature behind us. I chanced a look back and saw everyone running for their lives, I was happy to see no one frozen in shock, no one opening themselves up to attack.

I could hear Martha directing the people out of the Laboratories, I doubt she or Tish had even seen what happened with Leo. As Francine, Leo, and I got closer I saw Martha see us, she ran forward and took her brother from me. I didn’t stop to chat and ran back in towards Lazarus. 

_ “Make him angry, get his attention on you.” _

“Lazarus!” I screamed, getting his attention. “What are you doing, there is no controlling what you have done. This mutation is too strong! No matter how much energy you consume, it will never be enough, you fool!”

He was entirely focused on me now, which I was both terrified and happy about. No one else needed to get hurt but this thing was truly disturbing, I wasn’t sure that even I could withstand his energy-sucking. 

“You are just a vain old man who thought he could change humanity. What was it you said at the press conference “change what it means to be human”, well at least we know what happens when you do that. Let this be a lesson to everyone that comes after you, thinks that can defy nature. Nature can’t be beaten, she will always win. You are just another failure, not even enough to matter.” 

I was making him really mad now, he lunged up and his tail opened, I turned and ran before he could attack. I ran down empty halls and stairways, somehow I made my way to the boiler room. Lazarus never far behind me, crashing into walls and destroying things with his huge bulk. 

“It’s too late Wolf, you can’t stop me.” He hissed as I hid behind some large pipes.

“That arrogance, that’s what led you to this, you know,” I responded trying to pinpoint where his voice was coming from. I was amazed that I had managed to lose such a large creature.

“The arrogance is you. You are trying to stand in the way of progress.”

“Last time I checked, Laz, killing innocents and progress were opposite ends of the spectrum. Wow, along with being a vain old man, you are a delusional old man too!” 

“ _ Laz?”  _ Name one proud old man who likes having a dumb nickname. “ _ Fair enough, you really are enjoying this pissing him off thing.” _

“They are necessary sacrifices.” He hissed.

“That’s not your decision to make, Laz,” I said as I moved around behind some larger pipes. Suddenly the lights turned back on and I felt as if he was right on top of me. I was afraid to look up but I did. 

“Peek-a-boo,” He said from right above my head. I ran before he could do much more than that. There was a door at the end of the boiler room, down the hall was the lab Martha and I had been in earlier.

It was a fully stocked lab, chemicals, and science paraphernalia all over the place. I remembered from school that science labs have valves of gas on each lab table, I’m sure an explosion should at least slow him down. I turned every valve running up and down the lab tables, the crashing and growls from Lazuras coming closer and closer. I reached into my pocket and found a lighter waiting. 

“ _ Nice plan, this is definitely gonna piss him off.” _

“Playing hide and seek still, Miss Rose? That’s disappointing.” He said as he entered the lab. I ducked down below the last lab station and pulled the lighter out. “Why don’t you come out and face me?”

“Nah, I’m alright, I try not to look at ugly things if I don’t have to,” I said as I snuck to the lab door. Just before I left, I stood straight up right before I left and got his attention. He lunged for an attack but I was faster, I flicked the lighter and tossed it into the room. 

“ _ Boom!”  _ Not helping right now. “ _ You are doing wonderfully.” _

Slamming the door closed and trapping him and the oncoming explosion in the lab, then I ran. I managed to get about 3 yards before the room exploded behind me, thankfully it didn’t throw me and I was able to keep moving pretty fast. My back suddenly became very hot, but not on fire. I ran down more hallways, knowing that he wasn’t dead and probably pissed off more now. Suddenly, Martha turned the corner I was running, I just managed to stop her from running into me and turned her around and kept her moving. 

“What are you doing, Martha?” I screamed as we kept running.

“Checking on you, duh! And besides, you need your sonic!” She said not even fazed as we kept running. 

“ _ She truly is getting a hang of this.”  _ I know, I love it.

“How’d you find me?” I asked.

“The explosion, I took a guess.” She said nonchalantly. “What did you do?”

_ “Hehe, that was a fair guess.”  _ Oi!

“I blew him up, figured the more I piss him off the more unstable he becomes,” I explained as we slowed down around a corner. We paused for a moment.

“Is it working?” She asked before a loud crash came around the corner we had just turned. His growl echoed in the halls.

“Think so, time to go!” I said as we ran off again.

We ran and ran eventually ending back up in the grand hall where the gala had been held, the machine responsible for doing this standing untouched in the center. Broken glass, dropped personal items, shattered plates, and trampled food all around.

“What now? We’ve gone round and round in a circle. The people are still outside.” Martha said as he crashed into the large room. 

“ _ I doubt he will destroy his own machine.”  _

“We can’t lead him outside.” I ducked for the machine and pulled the door open. “Come on, get in.” Martha didn’t hesitate to squeeze in with me. 

“Blimey, you are getting fat. I keep forgetting with the coat!” Martha said as we adjusted the tight fit. In my head, the glowing golden ball bounced up and down in silent laughter.

“I know you are right but is now really the time?” I asked as I tried to adjust a bit. “He knows we are here. This isn’t gonna last long, he won’t destroy his masterpiece but he is angry enough that he won’t give up the chase.”

“So he won’t give up the chase but we are trapped in here for how long?” Martha questioned, slightly panicked.

“I’m working on it,” I lowered my voice as much as I could over the sounds of him outside. “Take my sonic out of my pocket and get down to the control panel at the bottom. I can’t do it, with my belly and how tight this is. Setting 12 will reverse the polarity of the machine if he can think through all the rage and hunger he will try and turn the machine on.”

I could hear him circling the machine, the thud of his claws on the tile echoing even through the machine. Martha nodded and grabbed my sonic before she shimmied down past my belly. 

“Oh much more spacious down here,” She quipped as I heard her fiddle with the control panel cover.

“ _ Oh, I absolutely love her!” _

“Very funny, hurry please,” I said urgently.

“While I am doing this, I am going to point out that I still don’t understand where that thing came from. Is it an alien?” Martha asked, I could hear her changing the setting on the sonic.

“ _ I can help with that, it’s actually human. My scans and the narrowing data have led me to believe it’s a rejected option of human evolution. The machine unlocked the dormant genes still locked away in human DNA.” _

“Nope, unfortunately, that is strictly human in origin. That is rejected evolution from millions of years ago. The machine made the locked genes become dominant and now it’s trying to kill us.” I explained.

“Wow, bet you are pretty happy to not be human anymore. We are gonna be killed by a human throwback.” Martha said from below me.

“Pretty much, how are you doing down there?” I asked her.

“Doing pretty well for never having reversed polarity before. I really like these shoes BTW.” She said strained. Before I could say anything else I heard the sounds of the machine powering up. 

“Is that what I think it is?” Martha asked.

“Unfortunate, that did take him longer than I thought it would, though,” I said as the inside of the capsule lit up blue.

“ _ She’s done it, the sonic readings say it’s reversed as soon as the machine fires it will hit him.” _

“You did it, Martha. Now, all we can do is wait, the blast will go outwards instead of inwards.” I told her as the machine began speeding up outside the capsule.

“I’ll stay down here but a question. What will the blast do to him? Reverse the change? Kill him?” Martha asked only slightly calmer.

“When he transforms he is 3 times the size of a normal human, the blast while it won’t kill him will knock him out for a while. Each part of him will take the blast 3 times as bad.” I explained to her as the machine got ready to fire, the squeal of it getting higher pitched.

Suddenly the blast went off, the creature outside let out a growl of pain. There was a loud crash of him hitting the floor then silence. 

“ _ It’s done. He is neutralized.” _

I reached for the inside door handle and pushed the door open, Martha crawled out from below my belly and then I followed her. Lazarus was there naked on the floor, back in human form, unconscious. 

“Good job on reversing the polarity, Martha,” I said as we walked towards him slowly, cautiously.

“Thanks, I had no idea what I was doing.” She said, slightly behind me. “He looks some human again, harmless. It’s almost pitiful if he hadn’t almost killed us before.”

“He quoted T.S. Eliot before, with Tish. There is another quote that works here too. “This is the way the world ends. Not with a band but with a whimper.” It’s a shame.” I said as we looked down at him.

\----------------------

Someone from the Gala had called the police and any other emergency services needed, once he was neutralized back to human form I let them take care of him. Martha and I had gone to find her family and she was wrapped up in a hug instantly by Tish. Francine helped Leo over but he was already standing better than he had before, she left him by his sisters and pulled me into a hug. 

“ _ Oh wow, you are definitely gonna have a better relationship with the mothers than the abandoner. With him, they always slapped him, even your mother.”  _

She seemed shocked when she felt my belly but couldn’t see it, but she didn’t say anything. To make the hug less awkward-looking I turned to the side. I was surprised that she hugged me and not Martha first. 

“Oh Rose, thank you for helping Leo and for whatever you and Martha did in there. I don’t know what the creature was but you two stopped it and that was incredible.” Francine said as she pulled away but still kept her hands on my arms. After a moment she let go and pulled Martha into a hug as well. Leo and Tish both giving me thankful smiles but not coming closer.

“It really was nothing, taking care of things like that is kinda my job,” I said awkwardly as the sirens of the ambulance left caring Lazarus.

“Well, I sure would like to learn more about that job,” Francine said but she didn’t ask more right now. Before we could keep talking there was the sound of a crash down the street. Martha and I made eye contact before we went running in the direction of the crash, it couldn’t be good news.

“ _ Oh dear, I miscalculated. I thought it would be over.” _

We found the ambulance crashed a ¼ kilometer down the road, 2 paramedics sucked down to husks, I assumed there was a 3rd in the driver’s seat. We turned at the sound of heels clicking down the street, it was Tish. 

Before either of us asked she answered, “Mom sent me to make sure you two don’t get into any more trouble.”

“Well, that is only slightly rude but also very endearing,” I said before I pulled my sonic out and tried to track him once again. 

“Are you getting anything Rose?” Martha asked, ignoring her sister.

“That way,” I nodded with my head towards the church. “The church.”

“Cathedral, it’s Southwark Cathedral. He told me about it before.” Tish said looking up at the church.

“It’s the miniature, from the office,” Martha said. 

“Once more into the brink,” I said as we walked towards the Cathedral together.

“ _ He is still unstable, possibly more than before. But that will also make him desperate for more energy, more life force.  _

I tracked him into the center of the Cathedral, this time in human form. He was wrapped in a blanket from the ambulance shivering and shaking, the transformations too much for his body to take. Martha and Tish stayed behind me but all eyes were on him. 

“I came here before. A lifetime ago. I thought I was gonna die then. In fact, I was sure of it. I sat here, just a child. The sounds of planes and bombs outside.” He said as he shuttered on the floor, his eyes lost in memory.

“The Blitz, I’m familiar,” I said flashing back to children wearing gas masks and a different man wearing a trenchcoat. I moved around him, circling him slowly, the Jones sisters staying where they were.

“ _ Oh, I do miss the Beautiful one, its a s..”  _ My sister cut off mid comment. “ _ Nevermind, we will talk about that later.” _

“You’ve read the history books then.” He said waving it off.

“I was there,” I said, offering him as little explanation as possible. I didn’t have to be looking at them to see Tish look at Martha with wide eyes.

“You are too young, Miss Rose.” He said confidently.

“Appearances can be deceiving, don’t you think Richard.” 

He laughed a bit before groaning in pain, his bones were crunching. The transformation was taking him over “In the morning the fires had died but I was still alive. I swore I’d never face death like that again. So defenseless. I would arm myself. Fight back, defeat it.” He said in between groans of pain. 

“That’s what you were doing today? With your machine? You didn’t care about money like Thaw or even the scientific advancements. All you cared about was defeating death once again.” I continued to circle him and started looking around the church, cataloging what I could use to help us. I noticed Martha doing the same, I hoped she was coming up with an idea, cause I didn’t have much.

“ _ I can’t say that I have much of a plan yet, the instability might not like loud noises, it might screw with what is already messed up even more. But let’s hold off for a bit, see what we can come up with.” _

“That’s what I did today.” He corrected me.

“And the people who died? Lady Thaw, pretty sure she was your business partner, if not your wife. The men on the ambulance who only wanted to help you?” I asked, trying to appeal to his human side.

To no avail.

“They were nothing.” He said uncaringly. “I changed the course of history.”

“History won’t remember you, it might have remembered them but now we will never know. History can’t be fooled like that, nature can’t be fooled like that. Facing death is part of what it means to be human, you won’t change that.” I told him, no doubt in my voice.

“Oh no, Lady Wolf. Avoiding death is what it means to be human. The strongest impulse, the drive to cling to life with every fiber of our being. I am only doing it better than everyone else.” He cut whatever else he wanted to say off with a groan of pain. 

“ _ Oh, now he remembers your title. The sound effects are going to be our best hope, the closer he is to the bells and chimes the worse it will hurt him. Someone needs to lead him up and someone needs to make a lot of noise.” _

“You can’t control it, Richard. You’re mutating, that isn’t a success.” I asked him in between the bursts of the mutation trying to take him over.

“I call it progress,” He shouted. “I am more now than I was before. More than just an ordinary human.”

“No human is ordinary,” I said as I got closer to Martha. 

“He is gonna change any minute,” She hissed at me.

“I know, I have a bit of a plan. Not a good one but it should work.” I said watching him closely.

“I’m listening,” Martha said.

“I need you to lead him up to the Bell Tower. As close as you can get him to the bells.” I said nodding up to the top of the ceiling, the bells just barely visible so high.

“I can do that,” She said looking up. She looked over at a door, “Reckon those stairs go all the way?”

“I don’t see why not.” I shrugged.

“OK then,” She nodded.

“ _ That will work.” _

Lazarus raised his head to look at me again. “You are quite the odd woman, Lady Wolf. Sentimental type it seems.”

“I am sentimental because I believe life is worth living? But that when it comes to its natural end you should just accept it. Immortality doesn’t solve everything, eventually, everyone is alone and tired. Living long enough means only thing Lazarus, you will end up alone.” I said looking down on him.

“That is a price worth paying.” He declared.

“No, it isn’t,” I said with the pain of my inevitable future in my eyes. 

Another spasm took over his body once it was pasted, he looked at me. “I will feed soon.”

“You can try,” I declared, I quickly made eye contact with Martha, giving her a cue.

“You haven’t succeeded yet.” He said with a smile.

“Leave her, Lazarus. Come now, I thought you enjoyed the chase.” Martha said from behind him. 

He whipped his head around to look at her, Tish wasn’t far behind her. He lunged and she turned and ran, grabbing Tish’s hand as she ran. Martha led them through the door and up the stairway, he was still human for the moment so they were doing okay. I heard the echo of his groans through the tower. I turned and ran in the opposite direction, towards the organ.

By the time I reached the organ, his groans had turned into growls. He had changed forms again, the Jones sisters didn’t have long but I had to trust that they would keep moving.

I wasn’t the musical type and had never even seen an organ, much less play one. It looked like 5 pianos stacked on top of each other with a bunch of knobs lined up on either side.

“ _ You don’t have to play well, just loud. Also, there is a music section in our head.”  _ Oh, that will be fun for later. “ _ Oh dear, what did I just suggest.” _

I grabbed my sonic and turned it on the hypersonic level. I shoved it on one of the empty ports and then flexed my fingers. Pulled a bunch of knobs and then waited, listening.

“Ladies,” Lazarus’s voice growled from the top. 

“Rose! Any time now!” Martha screamed.

I slammed my feet down on the pedals and then just started lamming keys. I pressed anything and everything that would make noise. It wasn’t working fast enough, I could hear Martha and Tish screaming. I grabbed the sonic with one hand and used it to turn the level up higher, level 12.

It sounded like it was working, the girls stopped screaming and Lazuras started screaming in pain. I couldn’t see what was happening up there, I couldn’t even hear very well over the awful noises I was creating.

Suddenly, Lazarus fell past me, I took my hands and fingers off of the keys of the organ. He fell from the top level of the bell tower and crashed to the stone floor below. I heard the crunch of his body against the stone and looked over the edge. There he lay, human again, unmoving. 

I looked up into the bell tower, “MARTHA! TISH!”

“We’re good, Rose! Be right down.” Tish called down.

We all made it back to the ground floor around the same time, I had taken the stairs slower, now that we weren’t in any danger. Richard Lazarus laid there, dead. He was still the young man he had so desperately wanted to become. I closed his eyes, I couldn’t stand the sight of his dead stare.

This time when we left him, I knew there was no chance of him coming back again. Francine and Leo had been crazed with worry but hadn’t been able to find us. We assured them that everything was alright again and again. But I knew that this was the end of Martha keeping anything a secret. They would want answers and I knew she would have to be the one to give them, I could provide proof but that was it. 

We promised them that we would see them soon and I knew they would want answers then. The only reprieve I could give Martha was we could travel for a while before we had to tell them the truth. Martha called us a cab to SJ’s and we bid them goodnight. SJ’s house was dark, we walked around the back and I pulled my key out after opening the TARDIS for Martha. 

“I’ll see you in the morning, Martha,” I said as she walked in. 

“Yeah, good night, Rose.” She went to close the door but paused. “Rose? I’m gonna have to tell them, aren’t I?”

“Yeah, I’ll help you.”

“Good night.” The door closed and I walked in SJ’s kitchen door.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave some love in the form of comments, kudos, and bookmarks!


	21. 42 Minutes of Sabotage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave some love in the form of comments, kudos, and bookmarks!
> 
> SEE ENDNOTES FOR A POLL/QUESTION ABOUT BABY BOYS NAME

**Chapter 21**

**Rose**

**42 Minutes of Sabotage**

It took Martha 3 days to ask, “When?” We were sitting in the library of the TARDIS each of us reading our own book. Martha had a book on future medical research from the 25th century and I had a book written in circular Gallifreyan. The actual book wasn’t important, I was reading it as a test to see how widespread my vocab was getting. 

“When? When are we going on an adventure? When is lunch? When is nap time? When is baby boy due?” I questioned trying to make her smile. I was running out of good “When?” questions but she was already smiling. 

“ _ Soon. Half an hour. After lunch. In about 12 weeks.”  _ Smartass time ship. “ _ Why thank you.” _

“You are so not funny, Rose,” Martha said, her smile betraying her words. “When do I have to tell them? My parents, Tish, Leo?”

“Well, I hate to break it to you Martha, but we do live in a time machine. You could foreseeably push it off forever. Not that I would suggest that, of course, but it is possible.” I chuckled. “In all seriousness, you shouldn’t put it off too much but really it’s when you are ready.”

“Mom texted me, said she needed to talk to us, in person. I’m worried that something is wrong but when we saw her after the gala everything was ok.” She said, pulling out her phone, presumably looking at her text. 

“Ok, that is slightly concerning but again we have a time machine. As soon as you feel comfortable we can go.” I said calmly. 

Before she could respond, my sister’s box gave a violent shudder. Knocking both Martha and me around in our chairs. Martha gave a shout but I was already up and running towards the consul room. 

“Sister?’ I shouted to the ceiling.

“ _ It’s a distress signal, it hit us hard I don’t know why. I’m locking on to the coordinates now.”  _

I entered the consul room, Martha, not far behind me. “It’s a distress signal,” I said aloud to her. “We are locking on it now.” I moved around the consul, reaching for what I have lovingly named the “launch lever” and pulled it. 

Seconds later we had landed, locked on to whatever had sent the distress single. 

“ _ HOT! That is hot, move me! Hot Hot Hot!”  _

“Wow! Ok, We are moving. Hold on!” I scammed back around the consul changing the coordinates to just a few dozen feet over. 

“Wait huh?” Marth asked as she watched me move around the consul. We had just started flying lessons and she was still getting a hang of the movement it requires. 

“It is really hot wherever we landed, she is burning. So we need to move out of where we landed, to another section of what I assume is a ship, one that won’t be as hot.” I explained as I hurried, I was beginning to feel the heat from her. “Pull the lever, Martha.”

She did as I asked and we disappeared and reappeared in another part of the ship. Just a couple of feet sideways got us out of the heat. I grabbed my jacket off the pilot’s seat and put it on.

“ _ Oh thank you, that is much better. That was getting very hot.” _

“Your welcome, Sister,” I said aloud. “Time to find out what the distress signal was about, ready Martha?”

“Oh totally,” She said following me out. 

There was a computer voice going over the intercom on repeat. “Automated distress signal transmitted.” The hallway we stepped out into was hot, wherever we had landed before must have been blistering if this was better.

We looked around but before we could get very far there was a voice yelling from down the hall. “Oi, you two!” We looked up to find 3 people running towards us, two men and a woman.

“Were you two in the venting room?” One of the men shouted before the man ran to a door behind us, checking the locks and seals of the door. 

The woman didn’t wait for us to answer the man’s questions before she started questioning us herself. “Who are you? What are you doing on my ship?”

“Are you police?” The second man asked.

“Do we look like police?” I asked. 

“ _ Well, my box does say Police Box.”  _ Oh, hush.

“We got your distress signal,” Martha said in response.

“Question? This is a ship, I don’t hear any engines. Why?” I said looking at the woman, based on her previous words she was the captain of the ship. 

“Our engine went dead 4 minutes ago. We were trying to repair it when we got notification of something disrupting our venting system.” She explained.

“ _ I think we found your adventure.” _

“Maybe we could get back to that? Stop chatting and get back to engineering, Captain.” The older of the two men prompted. 

The automated computer voice called again, the alarm getting louder. “Secure closure active.”

The captain and men looked shocked and confused, “What?” The captain asked.

“The ship’s gone mad.” The younger one said.

“Hey!” We looked down the corridor they had come from originally and saw another woman running down it. The doors were closing right as she passed them, barely making it to the rest of us. “Who activated secure closure? I nearly got locked into area 27.” Just as she reached us, the last door closed, I noticed it said Door 30. “Who are the chicks?” She asked looking at Martha and me.

“She’s Lady Wolf and I’m Martha,” Martha said from beside me. “Hello,” She gave a wave to the people of the ship. She must have noticed something I didn’t because she pushed past the people and walked towards a window. 

“Impact projection, 42 minutes, 27 seconds.” The computer said. 

“ _ Oh dear, that isn’t good. The impact projection is right, you will need to work quickly to figure out what happened. Worst-case scenario we can evacuate on me but I think we need to figure this out first.”  _ That’s not at all concerning, what are we going to crash into?

“We’ll get out of this, I promise.” The captain said.

“Rose,” Martha said from by the window.

“42 minutes until what?” I asked the captain, ignoring Martha for a moment.

“Rose!” Martha screamed, I ran up next to her, looking out the window. There was a large star, churning, burning, just in front of us. We were caught in its grip, the gravity of the star pulling us in.

“42 minutes until we crash into the sun.” The captain said from behind us.

I stared at the incoming star for a moment before I reacted. I ran back towards the captain. “How many crew members on board?” I urged her.

“Seven, including us. You two make 9.” She answered.

“We transport cargo across the galaxy, the ship is automated and we just keep it running.” The younger man said helpfully. 

“Okay, that gives us 37 minutes to fix your engines and save this ship. Otherwise, I will get us all out of here on my ship.” I said looking at the crew members here. “Someone wanna lead the way to engineering…” I lead off looking at them. 

“Right this way,” The captain said before leading me down one of the still opened doors. 

By the time we got there the computer voice called “40 minutes, 26 seconds.” The engine room was an absolute mess, pieces of the engine and other bits were strewn all over the floor and the engine itself was a mess, parts smashed in and twisted.

“Oh, and I thought I used to keep a messy room,” I said, thinking about my room at home with the Powell Estate and my pink room on the TARDIS.

“Oh my god.” The captain said as she followed me in. 

“The hell happened here?” The older guy asked. 

“Oh, it’s wrecked.” The younger one said looking at the mess. 

“Whoever did this to your engine knew what they were doing,” I said my mental self in the engineering section in my head. I needed to figure out how to repair this engine, what needed to be done to stop the incoming crash. 

“Where’s Korwin? Has anyone heard from him or Ashton?” The captain asked. The men both said “no” and she went off to the intercom system. 

“Rose, do you think someone did this on purpose to the engine?” Martha asked looking at the engine. I nodded and pulled out my sonic to start scanning the computer systems.

The captain called for the two men over the intercom but no one answered. “Where the hell is he? He should be up here.” She said distressed. 

_ “Location: Toragy System.”  _

“This is the Toragy system, that’s nice. Martha, you are over half a universe away.” I said moving away from the computer and towards the captain 

“I’d believe it,” Martha said.

“So, Captain, what’s your name?” I asked looking at her. 

“Kath McDonnell.” She replied. 

“Captain McDonnell, you are still using energy scoops for fusion. Hasn’t that been outlawed yet?” I asked her, already knowing the answer.

“ _ Yes, almost a year ago.”  _ I know, I wanna see what she says.

She and the younger man shared a look before she responded. “We’re due to upgrade next docking.” She said quickly before she walked off to give orders to the rest of the crew. “Scan all engine reports.” Her crew in the engineering room didn’t hesitate to comply with her orders.

Well, they tried to, the computer wasn’t cooperating with them. “No response,” One of the men said.

“What?” The captain said before she started trying to get the computer to respond to her. No luck, the man leaving the computer to examine some of the mechanics on the engine. “Scannell, what do you see?” She asked the man.

“They’re burnt out. The controls are wrecked. I can’t get them back online.” Scannell said. 

“ _ Scans of the ship show an auxiliary engine.” _

“What about the auxiliary engines onboard? The main engines down but what about the secondary?” I asked the captain.

“We don’t have access from here, the auxiliary controls are at the front of the ship,” Kath said, her hands on her hips.

“There are 29 password-sealed doors between us and them,” Scannell said from behind Martha. “You’ll never get there in time.”

“Can’t you override the doors?” Martha asked.

“Once secure closure is activated it’s locked. They are all deadlock sealed.” Scannell said. 

“That means no sonic, deadlocks are the one thing sonics can’t override,” I said.

“Why does it matter? Nothing is working here, no time and no engines, and absolutely no chance.” Scannell said defeated. 

“Well, you are a bit of a Debbie downer huh? We haven’t even started, no fighting spirit in this one. Who has the door passwords?” I said looking at the crew members.

“They are randomly generated. Reckon I’d know most of them.” The younger one said, “Sorry, I am Riley Vashtee.”

“ _ Oh, trivia!” _

“Then what are you still doing here? Get on it, Riley.” I said, pointing out the obvious. 

“It’s a two-person job,” He pulled down two large red machines from storage above the engine. “One to take this for the questions, one to carry this. The oldest and cheapest security system around, eh, captain?” He said looking at her.

“Reliable and simple. Just like you, eh, Riley?” Kath fired back. 

“Every time I try and be helpful, I just get abused. Such nice conditions onboard here.” He said shouldering one of the red machines. 

“I will help you with the doors, make myself useful,” Martha said taking the other red machine from him. 

“It’s remote-controlled from the computer, that’s why it needs two,” Riley said, the flirt evident in his voice. 

“ _ Oh, Martha is going to have fun with him.” _ I think she is, she enjoys the flirts. “ _ After Shakespear…”  _ Haha.

“Oh, is that why?” Martha said smiling. They started walking away before I caught her attention. 

“Oi, Jones!” She looked back at me. “Be careful, keep an eye on the clock. If we can’t figure this out, we are getting out of here on the TARDIS.”

“You too, Wolfy.” She said with a smile before she left with Riley.

“ _ Wolfy?”  _ You call me Wolf half the time, you can’t talk. “ _ I guess that’s fair, I think it’s cute.”  _ Yeah, well. I don’t hate it. “ _ Aww.” _

Suddenly the intercom beeped drawing our attention away from the retreating figures. “McDonnell, it’s Ashton.”

The captain was quick to hop to the intercom where she replied to the voice. “Where are you? Is Korwin with you?”

“Get up to the med center now,” Ashton responded.

Kath was quick to get moving, up the ladder and I followed her. Passing Martha and Riley on our way. The computerized voice spoke up, “34 minutes, 31 seconds.”

We ran into the med center to find a man and a woman trying to force a man into an MRI-type machine. The woman was wearing scrubs and pleading with him to calm down so that she could examine him. 

“Korwin! What’s happened? Is he Ok?” The captain called as we entered, she ran forward to the three of them. 

The man who I assumed is Korwin screamed, “Help! Help me! It’s burning me!” He was fighting the people trying to help him, his eyes squeezed shut.

I ran forward trying to get a look at him. “How long’s he been like this?” I reached into my pocket and pulled out my sonic. I wasn’t able to keep it in my boot anymore because of my belly (invisible or not).

“Ashton just brought him in.” The woman said. I held my sonic up over his head and scanned him. 

“What are you doing?” Kath questioned. 

“Don’t get so close,” I cautioned since we didn’t know what was going on. 

“Don’t be stupid, he’s my husband.” The captain said as she maneuvered around the man, which I assumed to be the aforementioned Ashton, holding Korwin down and got up to his head. 

“ _ Oh lovely, she won’t be able to be clear-headed about him, too involved.”  _ Oh, that’s a bit harsh. “ _ Wanna bet?” _

I ignored her as the other man, Ashton, spoke up, “And he’s just sabotaged our ship.”

The captain looked up at him shocked, “What?” 

“He went mad. He put the ship under secure closure. Then he sent a heat pulse to melt the control.” Ashton explained all the while they were struggling to keep Korwin still and I was scanning him. 

“ _ That is certainly a bit suspicious.” _

“No way! He wouldn’t do that.” Kath denied.

“I saw it happen, Captain,” Ashton said. 

I stuck my sonic back in my pocket, waiting for the analyzed results. “Korwin? Korwin, open your eyes for me a second.” I said looking up at him. 

He shook his head violently, “I can’t.”

“Yeah, of course, you can. Come on.” I urged him. 

He got more and more agitated, “Don’t make me look at you. Please.”

“Alright, alright, alright, it’s ok. Just relax,” I looked around the medical supplies and noticed a medicine gun. “Sedative?” I checked with the doctor and she nodded. I jammed it in his neck and fired it, he was knocked unconscious instantly. 

Everyone relaxed now that we didn’t have to hold him down anymore, everyone panting slightly. “What’s wrong with him?” The Captain asked.

“Rising body temperature, unusual energy readings,” I said looking at the medical screen even though the information I got was from the sonic in my head. I looked around and finally looked at the MRI-looking machine properly, now that Korwin was unconscious. 

“ _ Oh, it’s stasis chamber.”  _

“That’s a stasis chamber, this could definitely be helpful. Keep Korwin sedated in there, regulate his body temperature.” I said looking at the lady in scrubs. “Sorry, what’s your name?”

“Abi, and you?” She responded. 

“Lady Wolf, but you can call me Rose. Also, would you run a bio-scan, a tissue profile, and a metabolic detail? The more information we can get, the better we might be able to figure out what is wrong with Korwin.”

“ _ Good selection of tests, you are starting to get the hang of this.” _

“I was already planning on it, I was just about to start,” Abi said as she turned to the machine. 

“Is anyone else presenting any symptoms? Or show signs of planning sabotage, I guess?” I asked the three crew members with me.

“Not so far, at least that we’ve seen,” Abi said.

“That’s good,” I turned to Ashton. “Ashton, right?” He nodded and I continued, “he just randomly started sabotaging the ship?”

“Yeah, he walked in, didn’t even see me standing there, and just started messing everything up. I tried to stop him but couldn’t, I just managed to get him up here.” Ashton responded.

“Will, someone tell me what is the matter with him?” Kath asked, her voice cracking with worry. 

“Some sort of infection. We’ll know more when the test results come through, but that isn’t the biggest problem right now. Now we have to fix the engines, back downstairs eh?” I told her, she hesitated, looking back and forth between the exit and her husband. “Hey, Captain! Go!” I said trying to remind her that she had an entire ship to save and not just her husband. She finally responded and followed Ashton down to the engineering room. 

I looked at Abi, “Call us if there is news, anything else?” 

“Yeah-uh-no.” She stuttered. 

“Good, see ya!” I said as I left the med bay myself.

\-----------------------------------------

“Heat Sheild 25%”

“Impact in 32:50”

A few minutes later, from the engineering room, I used the intercom to check on what was happening. First I checked on Abi in the med bay. 

“Abi, how’s Korwin doing? Any results yet?” I asked through the intercom.

“He’s under heavy sedation. I’m just trying to make sense of the data. Give me a couple of minutes and I’ll let you know.” She said, a confused tone evident over the patchy intercom.

“Ok, I’ll be up in a few minutes, keep an eye on Korwin, even though he is sedated,” I said before switching off the med bay connection. 

I switched to the main halls, unknowing which door Martha and Riely were at. “Martha, Riley, how are you doing?”

“Area 29, at door to 28. We are just getting the hang of it now.” Martha called back.

“You need to move faster, if we can’t do this, you need to get back here in time,” I said urgently.

“We are doing our best, Rose, and we are keeping an eye on the clock. You just do your part and I’ll do mine.”

Riley’s voice came over the intercom, “Fine the next number in the sequence: 313, 331, 367. What?”

“ _ Happy primes, those are fun numbers. The next should be 379.” _

“You said the crew knew all the answers,” Martha said to him.

“The crew has changed since we set the questions,” Riley said dejectedly.

“379,” I said into the intercom.

“What?” Martha called back confused.

“379, the next number in the sequence. They are happy primes. Enter it, trust me.” I pleaded. 

“She is sure, Riley. Do it.” Martha said to Riley. 

“It worked!” Riley said shocked.

“Keep moving, the faster the better. Also, keep an eye out, something is amiss here, but I am working on it.” I said before I shut off the intercom.

“Impact in 30:50”

The engine was an absolute mess. The Captian, Ashton, the other girl whose name was Erina, Scannel, and I stood around looking at the mess. 

“We need a backup idea if they don’t reach the auxiliary controls fast enough. Come on, people, you know this ship better than I do. Think, what resources do we have?” I said trying to get them to come up with something. Then I remembered Abi and the Med Bay, “Think, I’m gonna check on Abi and Korwin, I want a plausible idea when I get back.” I said as I left for the stairwell to Med Bay. 

On my way up, Martha’s voice came in over the intercom. “Rose?”

“Yeah?” I said climbing a ladder.

“Who had the most number ones, Elvis or the Beatles?” She asked, I assumed reading a trivia question.

I let out a shuttering breath, of course, the question would be something I knew because of my mom. Sister wrapped her ball of light around my mental self in a hug, and I was able to shake off the pain. 

“With or without downloads?” I asked, flashing back to dance parties with my mum in the living room of our small apartment. She had loved both.

“Pre-downloads” Martha answered.

“Elvis,” I said with a small smile.

“Thanks,” She said and it was silent for a moment before, “It workers, we’re through.”

“Keep going, Jones,” I said.

“Impact in 29:47,” The computer said as I entered the Med Bay. 

“How we doing Abi?” I asked her, she looked up from an X-ray sheet. 

“Not good, I don’t… Korwin’s body is changing.” She said looking at me. I was instantly glad that I came up here and not waited for results over the intercom. That would have made the Captain lose all of the limited focus she had. “His whole biological make-up...it’s impossible.”

Before I could answer there was a thud behind us. Abi looked up to the light fixture which was reflective, while I stood still where I was. I saw her eyes widen. 

“ _ Scans from the sonic show that the Captain’s husband is acting as a host, to what I can’t tell yet. It’s likely that he is behind you.” _

Abi turned and stared at whatever was behind us, I turned with her. Korwin was standing there, his eyes shut tight, but very visibly awake despite the large sedative I had given him.

“Korwin, what’s happening to you?” Abi asked confused.

“Burn with me,” Korwin responded in a voice that was not his own. At least not the same voice I had heard before.

“I would rather not, burning doesn’t seem to be very fun,” I said taking Korwin’s attention off of Abi.

“Burn with me,” He said ignoring me.

“I want to help you, just tell me how, please.” I tried.

“ _ Move her! Get her out of his eye line!” _

I grabbed Abi’s hand and pulled her away, not hesitating for a moment. I pushed her behind me. I made sure he couldn’t see her before turning back to him. 

“I know that you aren’t Korwin, at least right now. Please I would like to help you, tell me.” I begged the thing in Korwin.

“Burn with me.” He opened his eyes and light beams shown out of them. The beams of light were incredibly hot but I felt the power of Bad Wolf surge up to meet it. I glowed gold the light emitting from me formed a kind of shield, and his light beams did nothing. Abi screamed behind me but thankfully her scream was more terrified than painful, which meant I was protecting her from his light beams. Suddenly the light beams were gone and I could see he had closed his eyes again, his head tilted in confusion. 

“I want to help you, please let me,” I said to him, still glowing in case he decided to try burning us again. 

He didn’t listen again, turned, and walked away, stopping at a table to pick up a welding helmet of sorts. He put it over his head and left the Med Bay, I didn’t try to race after him. I reigned in the light with some help from Sister in my head before turning to Abi. 

“Impact in 27:06,” the computer said.

“Abi, are you okay?” I checked her over, not seeing any visible damage. 

“ _ The biggest concern is we don’t know how the being jumps from host to host. Our power protected you and the child, be careful until you can know for sure.” _

“I don’t think I’m hurt, what was that? Korwin? You? You were glowing and what?” She asked slightly freaking out. 

“Abi, it’s gonna be okay, alright. I need you to breathe,” I exaggerated my breathing for a few moments for her to catch up. “I’m a lot to explain and we don’t have time but Korwin had been infected with something. Something is using him as a host and is using him as a weapon. I’m gonna try and figure it out ok, I promise.” I said, my hands on her shoulders, measuring her breathing and making sure she was okay.

“What was he trying to do? Those lights?” Abi asked slightly calmer.

“He wanted us to burn with him, my best bet he wanted to vaporize us but I was able to stop it. Where are the test results from earlier, what had you so confused, scared?”

She looked around and found them on the floor, she must have dropped them when Korwin started his attack. “Here,” She said as she handed them to me. 

“Internal temperature, 100 degrees. Body oxygen replaced by hydrogen. Whatever is using him as a host is completely overwhelming him. Possible a parasite, some kind of virus? Whatever it is, I’m afraid that Korwin might be completely gone because of it.”

“ _ Mutagenic virus is the only viral possibility.”  _ Okay but still that’s not an answer.  _ “True, but we need to find out what the ship has done recently any planet falls or dockings. Any external contact, somewhere he had to have been subject to whatever it is. Find out where we find out what.” _

“Abi, I need to know everything this ship has done, anywhere it’s been, everything,” I said once I came back to the real world. 

“I..the captain?” Abi stuttered a bit. 

“The captain will tell me that you are a cargo ship, I already know that you are using fusion scoops and I know your ship knows it outlawed, it has been for over a year, well past the required upgrade time. I need to know what else is happening here, it’s the only way I can help you.” I urged her, I hated putting the pressure on her but I knew of all the crew she would be the most likely, to tell the truth. Having seen what Korwin could do and would have done without me here. 

“I don’t know much, I’m still a new member. But I’ll tell you what I do know, but we have to warn the crew first. Korwin is on the lose.” Abi said nodding to herself. 

“Ok, I’ll do it, you pull yourself together,” I said before walking over to the intercom.

“Attention crew members, this is Lady Wolf. Korwin has been infected by something, he had attacked me and Abi but we managed to escape. Stay on your tasks, we need to get this ship back in working order, Abi and I are going to take care of him. Think of him as a walking infection, you need to quarantine away from him. If you see him, stay away and call us. And Captain that means you too, I know he is your husband but right now you need to think about your crew.” 

_ “Look at you, no-nonsense. Taking over and taking charge.”  _ Thanks? “ _ You’re welcome.” _

“Now, wait a minute, this is my ship, Lady Wolf,” Kath came back over the intercom. 

“Not anymore, Captain. You sent out a distress signal and I answered. Until I figure out what is going on here, I’m giving the orders. Just remember, I have your best interest in heart, I want to save this ship and everyone on it. That means you and the rest of the crew, but everyone needs to do their part. That means you help to fix the engine.” I said resolutely.

“Fine, listen to Lady Wolf people. Do your jobs and stay away from Korwin.” She relented over the intercom.

“ _ She gave up easier than I thought she would.”  _ Right? I have to keep an ear out, make sure she is still down in engineering, and not trying to spy. “ _ Let out a little power, not enough to glow but you’ll be able to sense her coming before she gets very close.”  _ Super cool.

“Understood, Captain” Riley’s voice came over the intercom. “We are at door 23.”

I shut the intercom off and turned back to Abi, she was sitting on a step stool waiting for me. I did as Sister said, released the cap I had on my power, and felt some leak out, my senses sharpened and I knew that just Abi and I were near.

“Ok, I need you to know what you know, Abi,” I said leaning against the med table.

“Shouldn’t we tell them that Korwin is essentially dead, except for whatever is in him?” Abi asked me. 

“That would just distract them, the captain is already too involved to be impartial. They need to stay focused on their job and we need to stay on ours. It’s not nice and I certainly don’t like doing it but we are a bit on the clock and we don’t have time for the emotions right now.”

“I get it, I don’t like it either but I’d rather live and have her hate me than die because she was distracted,” Abi said.

“Now, what is happening on this ship? What has made this thing so interesting in the crew, why does it want to kill you all?” I asked.

“I only know parts,” she said.

“That’s okay, you know more than I do,” I said, waiting.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave some love in the form of comments, kudos, and bookmarks!
> 
> WHAT DO YOU THINK BABY BOY'S NAME IS GONNA BE?  
> A. CHARLES/CHARLIE  
> B. JACK  
> C. JAMES/JAMIE  
> D. JOSHUA
> 
> LEAVE YOUR ANSWER IN THE COMMENTS


	22. Star V Wolf

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave some love in the form of comments, kudos, and bookmarks!
> 
> THE VOTING/POLL/GUESSING GAME THING IS STILL AT THE BOTTOM, VOTE IF YOU HAVEN'T YET

**Chapter 22**

**Rose**

**Star V Wolf**

Abi and I spoke for quite a while, her story filling some of the blanks that were so evident in the ship’s story. I had already known they were doing fusion scoops and were well aware that they were illegal. But the information that they had done a scoop recently was helpful, it is possible that was a factor in what had happened to Korwin. 

Every so often the crew or Martha would call over the intercom with an update. Martha telling us which door they were through. 

“Rose, we are at door 19.” I would go over and make sure they knew I was listening, each time giving Abi a moment to collect her thoughts. 

Erina had called and said she had seen Korwin but he had left her alone. I was thankful for that, Abi had said that Erina was also new to the ship and I didn’t know if that meant anything or not but I was happy for it. 

“Heat shields failing at 20%,” The computer said.

Before Abi or I could react to the computer’s announcement Kath’s voice came over the intercom, “Has anyone seen Ashton? He went out for some parts and hasn’t been back.”

I went over to the speaker, “Stay where you are Captain. I’ll see if we can find him.” 

“But,” She said. 

I didn’t let her finish, “Stay and fix the engine. We will find Ashton.”

“Fine, Lady Wolf. Find my crew member and hurry.”

I turned back to Abi, now that I knew enough of the ship’s hidden history that we needed to move on with finding Korwin and now Ashton. I was afraid that with Ashton missing, he might have been infected like Korwin. 

Suddenly my phone rang from my pocket, the noise shocking Abi silent. I grabbed it, curious because the TARDIS usually redirected any non-essential calls. Martha’s name on the screen made me answer quickly. 

“Martha?”

“Rose! We are stuck in an escape pod of the area-17 airlock. One of the crew’s trying to jettison us. You’ve got to help us!”

“I’m on my way, is there any way to stop the pod?” I said as I took off running through the newly opened doors. 

_ “If they are jettisoned we can’t have the ship moving away. The engines can’t be turned on, we will never be able to catch them.” _

I paused and turned to Abi before I left completely, “Abi tell them not to start any engine, not till I give the go-ahead. I need to make sure they are still on board before anything happens.” 

“I don’t know, Riley is trying something. Riley says it was Ashton.” Martha said panicking.

“Guess we found him then, he is infected then?” I asked, still running.

“Well he was doing this super creepy ‘Burn with me’ thing so I’m gonna say yes.” Martha nearly shouted.

“Don’t let him look at you! Is he wearing a visor or welding helmet?” I asked hopefully.

“Yeah, he is,” She said. “Why?”

“Good, don’t let him look at you, I mean it.”

“Okay, okay, we won’t. Are you almost here?” She asked. “Riley managed to hold the jettison but it won’t last forever.”

“Door 20,” I said as I jumped over the raised doorway.

“Jettison reactivated,” I heard over Martha’s panicked breathing.

“Oh come on, tell Riley to keep trying,” I said at door 19.

Martha just screamed a response, I wasn’t sure if it was meant for me or the Ashton-creature trying to jettison them. 

“Escape pod stabilized.” The computer said again.

“I can see him, I’m here,” I told Martha as I jumped the last door and entered area 17. “Hey!” I shouted, getting Ashton’s attention. 

He turned to me, breathing like Darth Vader through the welding mask. Any better moment and I would have made a quippy reference but it wasn’t the time.

“What do you want? Why this ship? Tell me, you know I want to help you.” I said, trying again to get some answer from whatever was inhabiting the men. He didn’t like my attempt apparently and reacted violently. He slammed his fist into the control panel for the escape pod, I didn’t need the computer to tell me but it did anyway. 

“Jettison activated.”

“Oh, that’s just not fair,” I said to Ashton as he walked closer to me and away from the destroyed panel. “I want to know what you are, I want to help you and you just keep making it difficult.” 

He went to lift his visor again and I got ready to unleash my power again. But before we could fight it out, he let out a scream in pain. He fell back, hunched over in pain, crying out. But before I could react he stood up again and walked right past me. Not a care for me at all.

“Airlock sealed,” the computer said in reference to the escape pod.

I ran for the intercom to warn the others, “Captain, Ashton is heading in your direction. He has been infected just like Korwin.” Then I left the intercom to try and save Martha and Riley. 

“Korwin is dead, Lady Wolf.” Scannell’s voice came over the intercom. I didn’t have time to respond but I filed the information away for later

“Airlock decompression completed,” The computer said. “Jettisoning pod”

I looked through the window and could see the pod being jettisoned, there was nothing I could do yet. I had no idea how to help her right now. I held my phone up to my ear, the call still active. 

“Martha! I’ll save you. I promise I don’t know how yet but I will.” I said into the speaker watching her pound on the window.

“Rose!”

“I’ll save you, I promise!”

\------------------

“Impact in 17:05,” the computer said, breaking through the shock of watching Martha fall in towards the burning star. I could still see the escape pod, Martha’s call still live by my ear but both of us were silent on the active line. 

_ “I couldn’t catch them in the pod, even if you could get to me fast enough. The best idea I’ve got is to try and pull the pod back in. Use the magnetic field and boost it. You’ll need to go outside the airlock.” _

I ran for the intercom, “Abi! I need a spacesuit in area 17 now! The rest of you keep working on the engine but don’t turn it on yet. Wait, no, Abi bring someone with you to take over the door questions.”

“Right away, Lady Wolf. Erina and I are coming.” Abi called over. 

I held my phone up to my ear, “Martha! Martha are you still there?”

“Yeah, Rose,” She held in a sob. 

“I’m coming, I have a plan okay. Just bear with me for a few more minutes.” I said to her.

“I really hope you are right, please hurry.” She said shuttering.

“Trust me, I won’t let you die, I promise. Even if I have to break the laws of time and space.” I swore to her. “I’m gonna hang up now, but I am coming,” I said reassuringly before I hung up the phone. I only had to wait for Abi and Erina with the suit.

Now that I had a plan I started thinking about Ashton, what he had done before, what had distracted him from attacking me. Then I remembered what Scannell had called over the intercom when I was focused on Martha. 

“Wait, Scannell. Did you say Korwin was dead?” I asked over the intercom.

“Uh yeah, he was attacking us. I opened the ice vents on him and he froze to death, he is here in the engineering room. Captain is a little out of it, she thought he recognized her right before.” He explained. 

“Okay, try and snap her out of it, we need her. I still don’t know exactly what it is about him, is he still wearing the helmet?” I asked him, not sure if ice vents were enough to take care of whatever was inhabiting him.

“Uh no, no helmet. Uh, why?” Scannell answered confused. 

“It’s hard to explain and I’m not even completely sure but better safe than sorry. Put it back on him, snap Kath out of it and work on the engine. But don’t turn anything on yet.” I ordered him. By then I could see Abi and Erina coming down the hall carrying the suit, between the 3 of us we managed to get the suit on me, somehow it fit over my invisible belly. 

“What’s your plan?” Erina asked me.

“Oh it’s very stupid but I am determined so I’ll do whatever. Open the airlock and pull the pod back in, reactivate the magnetic field and boost it.” I said. 

“You’ll die, we are spinning into a star. That’s as good as suicide.” Abi said, holding back the space helmet. 

“Oh, it’s not for me. I’m special, it takes a lot to kill me and even then I am stubborn.” I said grabbing the helmet out of her hands.

“This close to the star, the heat shields won’t help you,” Erina said.

“Abi, you saw what I can do, you may not understand it but if I say I can do this, I can do it. I can save them, not just my friend but yours too. But the longer we stand here arguing the harder it is gonna be. I’ll do this, you two work on the doors, we need control of the aux engines.”

Abi and I stared at each other for a moment, Erina looking confused at the two of us. “Fine,” Abi relented. “Come on, Erina. She is right, let’s go.”

I didn’t stick around to see them start on the doors, I turned to the airlock and the empty pod space. The door opened and closed automatically as I entered and the computer initiated the decompression. I took a couple of deep breaths and waited. 

“Impact in 12:55”

“ _ The ship is running out of time, we might have to evacuate and leave the ship.”  _ I know, but first I have to get Martha, then we can decide. “ _ Alright, the lever is just outside the hatch, flipping it will reactivate the pod magnet and pull them back in. _

“Impact in 11:15”

“Heat shields failing at 10%”

“ _ Decompression is always a time consumer.”  _ Seriously, though and that computer is really starting to get annoying. “ _ Oh dear, I didn’t think of that before.”  _ What? “ _ The time it takes to recompress the room and you have to wait for the pod to even arrive. You won’t have time to make it back to me. You are closer to the front of the ship and the two women are making good progress on the doors. You need to save the ship, it’s the only option.”  _ Wonderful, that’s great. “ _ I believe in you.”  _ Thanks.

“Decompression complete.”

“Once more into the brink,” I said to myself as I opened the outer door. The golden power of the wolf uncapped and glowing, not that you could see it in the light in the star.

The heat was blistering and I knew that even the strongest sunglasses in the universe wouldn’t help against the brightness of the star in front of me. I could see the pod carrying Martha and Riley, they were a small dot falling into the sun at this point. 

I had to fight against the vacuum of space, the speed of the ship, and the gravity of the sun as I leaned out the hatch. The power of the wolf helped me power through the forces against me as I reached. I could see the lever and leaned half my body out of the hatch, anchoring the other half to the doorway because I hadn’t thought to grab a tether. 

“Come on! Reach!” I screamed at the lever or my arm.

I was so close, my arm just needed to miraculously grow an extra two inches. 

I strained but no luck my arms weren’t long enough. 

Suddenly the golden glow that encased my body got stronger, I could see it even against the star. It came out of my fingers and I saw it wrap around the lever, I took a chance and yanked my arm back. The goldness came with me and pulled the lever down with me. 

“Yes!” I  _ screamed in joy as I let myself fall back into the airlock chamber. I sat up to see if the escape pod _ was coming back but then I saw...

“ _ You did it! Scans show the pod is on its way back to you now. Wait, the star...what?” _

I heard my sister’s words but only in the recesses of my mind, the pain clouding my mind. 

“It’s alive,” I murmured to myself, looking at the churring star.

“ _ Sister? Rose? Rose! Look away from the star!” _

“Impact in 8:57”

“ _ Rose! Wake up, the pod is going to hit you if you don't move. Rose!”  _

I stared at the star, her voice fading even farther away. The star’s pain is overwhelming.

“ _ Oh, not again. Time to get you back in the game again, sorry.” _

Suddenly the star’s light in my head was pushed to the side, the wolf howling loudly in my head. I shook my head and jumped back into the airlock, closing the door, just barely missing getting hit by the pod. The recompression started and I yanked my helmet off, the star regaining power in my head. I kept my eyes shut tightly and stayed hunched on the floor.

“Rose!” Martha shouted sliding to my side.

“STAY BACK, MARTHA! STAY BACK!” I screamed, keeping my head down and eyes closed.

“Why? Rose, what’s happening?” Martha asked, scared.

“THE SUN! IT’S ALIVE, THE CAPTAIN MINED THE SUN, STRIPPED IT FOR CHEAP FUEL. THEY SCOOPED OUT IT’S HEART AND USED IT FOR FUEL. ITS SCREAMING OUT IN PAIN!” I screamed.

“Oh my god!” Martha said aghast. “Did you know?”

“I knew something sketchy was happening here but not that. It was the Captain and Korwin, Ashton maybe but not me.” Riley said quickly, upset at his own involvement.

“MARTHA!”

“What? What can I do?” She asked helplessly.

“DUMP ANY LEFT-OVER FUEL! THEY SHOULD HAVE THE DOORS OPEN BY NOW! RUN! GIVE BACK WHAT THEY STOLE!”

“Run all the way down the doors, the control room is at the end of the hall! Quickly, we are running out of time!” Riley said to her, getting her into motion. I heard the noise of running footsteps and hoped it was her.

“Riley, are you still here?” I asked him. 

“Yeah, Lady Wolf. What do you need?” He asked, I felt him lean down next to me.

“Freeze me! It’s the only way I can fight the star off! The med bay, stasis chamber!” I ordered.

“Alright, I ain’t gonna argue with you now.” He quipped. I felt my body being maneuvered and then felt him pull my arm around him and pull me up. 

“Impact in 7:30”

We moved quickly but we stopped for a moment, I couldn’t tell why, the pain of the star’s onslaught was too much. I could hear Riley talking but the battle was getting harder and The Wolf was losing. Riley’s voice sounded angry and whoever he was arguing with sounded distressed. 

“I didn’t know! We didn’t have time!” The voice screamed.

Riley didn’t respond and kept moving with me. Within moments we were there. He helped me up onto the table, but then he paused. 

“Minus 200 degrees,” I said, the wolf still battling the star in me. “You have to freeze it out of me or else it will use me to kill you all. I can’t fight it for very long, the closer we fall the stronger it is. 15 seconds should be enough!”

“Please don’t die!” He said moments before the cold came.

I had been to cold planets before, I had been cold before. This wasn’t that. This cold wasn’t cold, it was pain. I felt parts of my body turn to ice and screamed in pain but Riley didn’t stop it. 

“13...14...15…and it’s off!” Riley screamed over the sound of my own pain. The cold stopped but that didn’t stop me from shivering violently as I tried to warm back up. The power and pain of the star was gone. The wolf in my head roared victoriously and sent a burst of warmth to help defrost me.

“Impact in 4:06”

“Oh lovely, help me up Riley,” I said reaching my hand up, the icicles cracking as I moved. 

“ _ Oh, wonderful you’re back. That was awful, I couldn’t reach you.”  _ I’m sorry, love. The baby, are they okay? “ _ I think so, the wolf was protecting him more than anything, that’s why it was so hard to fight it. Power was being diverted. Have Martha check when this is over.” _

“Impact in 3:43”

“What do we do, Lady Wolf?” Riley asked me, staring at me amazed. 

“Nothing, there is nothing we can do. It’s up to Martha and the girls now. They have to release the star’s particles.”

“Well, I’ve never felt more useless,” Riley said hopelessly.

“What was that? Before? On the way here?” I asked the memory dim.

“The Captain, she saw us and wanted to know what was going on. I told her what she had done, hurting the star because she mined for fuel.” Riley said angrily.

“I’m sorry, Riley. I know you respected the captain.” I said remembering their banter when we had arrived.

“Not anymore, not with what I know now.” He said, ending the discussion. We sat in silence waiting to see if the girls made it in time.

Suddenly, the silence was broken.

“KORWIN! ASHTON!” Kath’s voice screamed, the noise echoing in the med bay. Riley and I made eye contact before we both ran. Down past engineering and towards an airlock, I could see the possessed bodies of Korwin and Ashton walking in the airlock. Somehow I knew that they were cornering the Captain in there. 

The door closed behind them and the intercom buzzed. “Crew, I’m sorry. I didn’t know it had life.” Kath’s voice said thickly, then the intercom shut off. 

“Exterior airlock opened.”

Riley and I stood there shocked into silence. She had sacrificed herself to get rid of Ashton and Korwin. 

“ _ Tried to martyr herself is more like it.”  _ I know, I don’t think she was a bad person. She just made bad decisions. “ _ She is still the whole reason this started, fusion scoops are illegal for a reason.”  _ Yeah, I know.

“Impact in 2:17”

“Still nothing we can do?” Riley double-checked.

“Yup, unless you know how to teleport,” I said sarcastically.

“Nope, not that I know of.” He quipped back.

“Primary engine critical. Repeat, primary engine critical.” The computer said. 

“You know that’s really annoying when we are about to die and there is nothing we can do,” I said pointing to nothing. 

“You know, I was thinking the same thing,” Riley said. “Wanna start walking up there?”

“Sure,” I shrugged and we started moving down the corridor.

“Survival estimate projection, 0%”

“Seriously?” I asked incredulously.

“Impact in 1:21”

“We’re through!” Abi’s voice came over the intercom. 

“Right behind you!” Martha replied.

“Life support systems reaching critical. Repeat, life support systems reaching critical.” The computer announced unhelpfully.

“Impact in 1:06”

“Collision alert. Collision alert. 58 seconds to fatal impact.”

Riley and I stopped our walk and waited with bated breath. 

“ _ Sister…” _

“Fuel dump in progress. Fuel dump in progress.”

I let out a breath and saw Riley do the same. Suddenly the ship let out a huge rumble and jerked. Riley and I fell into the wall next to us. I was just able to catch myself with my hands before my belly hit the wall. 

“The engines are firing!” Riley shouted over the small explosion-like sounds. The ship righted and I could feel the engines moving us away from the star.

“Impact averted. Impact averted. Impact averted.”

“Oh now, she tells us good news!” I threw my hands up in the air annoyed.

Riley let out a laugh before bending over to catch his breath. I heard the sound of running footsteps and turned to see Martha running for us. I met her in the middle and we hugged in relief, we survived.

\---------------------

Later, the remainder of the crew, Martha and I stood outside the TARDIS. Scannell and Riley were looking at it skeptically. 

“I thought you were joking when you said this was your ship before,” Scannell said as he circled her. 

“She is compact, nice for fitting into tight spaces,” I said as I gave her paneling a pat.

“ _ Your welcome.” _

“You guys want a ride?” Martha offered.

“No, we sent out an official mayday and we’ll need to explain everything to the proper authorities. We have to face the consequences of our actions, other than nearly burning to death.” Riley said unbothered.

“But it wasn’t your guys’ fault, it was the Captain and Ashton and Korwin,” Martha said confused.

“We might not have known all of it but we knew something was wrong here and we didn’t try to stop it. It’s only right.” Scannel said, Abi and Erina nodding along with him.

“Make sure they know the star is alive. It needs care and protection, just like any living thing.” I said as I opened the door.

The crew nodded to me and I walked in. I thought Martha was behind me but then I heard Riley stop her. I shook my head with a fond smile.

_ “Martha and the flirts.” _ Haha, let her have some fun. _ “Oh, of course, why do you think we keep meeting flirts.”  _ Oh, you meddler.

I stood at the consul and waited, it didn’t take long for Martha to join me. I turned to her with a knowing smile. “Did you kiss him?”

“I don’t kiss and tell, Rose. You have to know that by now.” She said biting her lip.

I threw my head back and laughed loudly before gesturing her up to here. 

“Yeah?” She swayed back and forth a bit.

“Walk me through the launch procedure, wait until I give the go-ahead then you can input the command.” I nodded towards the consul. 

She looked at me with wide eyes before staring at the consul a bit frightened. “Right, okay.” She moved towards it and we began.

“What’s first?” I asked, waiting.

“This one here, eh?” She asked.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave some love in the form of comments, kudos, and bookmarks!
> 
> WHAT DO YOU THINK BABY BOY'S NAME IS GONNA BE?  
> A. CHARLES/CHARLIE  
> B. JACK  
> C. JAMES/JAMIE  
> D. JOSHUA
> 
> LEAVE YOUR ANSWER IN THE COMMENTS


	23. Tyler Henrils

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here is the first instalment of "The Family" episodes. There is gonna be 3 parts.
> 
> Stuck in 1913 in England as very Doctor, so I changed the time and location to New York 2020, which also happened to be very therapeutic writing about the pandemic. 
> 
> And in case you were wondering, Martha's hair is Freema Agyeman's from Sense8, also an amazing show you should watch if you want. But it doesn't really matter for the plot, I just wanted to do it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave some love in the form of kudos, comments, and bookmarks!

**Chapter 23**

**Tyler Henriks**

**Tyler Henriks**

**November 13th, 2020**

_ Buzz-buzz-buzz _

The sound stole the remnants of the dream away, fantasies of a different life. Gone within an instant, unreachable as they floated away with the last of sleep. His smile had been there, blinding as we held hands and ran. Ran everywhere and anywhere. Secret smiles and kisses stolen between catching our breath, hiding away. Sweet caresses and words of love, intermixed with a melodic sound I couldn’t understand but loved, a language I didn’t know. 

_ Buzz-buzz-buzz _

I groaned as my alarm on my phone went off, reaching out to dismiss the alarm, I laid there with my eyes closed. Another day of Zoom classes, all that was allowed in New York, since the CoronaVirus Pandemic was still hitting the world full force. As I woke up more, the noises from the street drifted in my window, I was surprised I hadn’t heard them before, New York as loud as it is.

_ Buzz-buzz-buzz _

My second alarm went off, the alarm I had specifically for this purpose. I had never been a morning person, the tiny human I was growing only making me worse. I felt a kick to my ribs, letting me know that baby boy was awake. At least it wasn’t my bladder this time, I was too big to get up fast enough to make it to the bathroom in time, thankfully the baby had been very nice to me in that aspect. 

I opened my eyes and looked at my bulging belly, 35 and a half weeks, I was the size of a tank and the due date just kept seeming farther and farther away, not closer as was logical. I rubbed my left hand on my belly, my ring getting caught on the edge of my shirt. It sparkled in the morning light, my heart straining at the memory of him. John, my beloved John, died in a car accident in May. He had been so excited to be a father, he had been going to the store for nursery supplies even. He had driven the long way to the mall, a march for BLM blocking the normal route and someone had run a red light. A stupid accident took the love of my life from me, my baby’s father from him. I took a deep breath, trying to hold back the tears. I had told myself that I would only cry in the dark, at night, alone, not having to face anyone for at least a few hours.

_ Tap, Tap, Tap _

“Tyler, are you awake yet? I heard your alarm already, wakey wakey!” My best friend’s voice came through the door. 

“Yeah, Yeah, I’m up Martha. I’m coming.” I said as I prepared to heave myself out of bed. A few leg swings to get momentum and a well-placed swivel I was sitting on the edge of my bed. I reached over and pulled my phone off the charger, dismissing emails that I would worry about later. No new messages, not that I was expecting any, Martha was all I had now, well her and the baby. 

A few minutes later I was gently lowering myself down at the table, breakfast already made on the table. I looked up to see Martha walk out of her room, dressed in her scrubs with her two masks hanging off one ear. Her new long braids were piled high on her head in a bun, the brightly colored ones peaking out from her dark hair. She gave me a smile as she checked she had everything in her bag for work. 

“I keep telling you, you don’t need to make me breakfast in the morning, Martha,” I said even as I began eating the eggs she had made. “I’m a big girl and know how to feed myself, ya know.”

“And I keep telling you, I don’t mind. And besides, if I don’t give you something healthy the baby is gonna come out looking like a chip- no.” She paused and thought for a moment, “french fry, that's what it is here in America.” She said jokingly. 

Martha and I were both from London, having moved to New York for a fresh start. Funny enough we didn’t know each other before meeting in a coffee shop a couple of years ago. She had moved into the large, empty apartment a couple of months ago. John and I had fit it nicely, we each had an office and then our room. Now Martha lived in John’s old office and mine was the nursery, while I worked at the table. 

She said it was because her lease was up and she wanted to be close in case something happened and I couldn’t get to a hospital, what’s better than a doctor living at home during a pandemic but I knew it wasn’t that. She was worried that I would become depressed if I was left alone, surviving only for my baby and she planned on stopping that in its tracks.

“Either way, I know what you mean and I resent it.” I said buttering my toast, “Don’t you have people to go save?”

She shouldered her bag and grabbed her sunglasses and keys off the side table. “Trying to get rid of me?” She asked sweetly.

“Me? Get rid of you, Nah!” I said sarcastically.

“Kay, see you tonight, remember to eat and if you feel anything weird with the baby call me or call Tim,” She said, I mouthed the words right along with her. She had been saying the same thing every time she left the apartment for the last month and a half. 

“Bye!” I hollered as she left out the door, I heard her knock on our neighbor, Tim’s, door and sighed at the “secret code’ they had. Tim had lived here longer than I had and had been friends with John more than me, but now he said he owed it to John to take care of me. Martha and he had clicked randomly one day and the two were as thick as thieves when it came to “protecting” me. Not that I needed it, I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself, expecting mother-widow status aside, I wasn’t an invalid. 

_ Ding-ding-ding _

“Meow,” the tuxedo cat greeted me as he wandered out of the half-finished nursery. 

“Morning, Jack,” I said, reaching my hand down to let him headbutt my hand. He had been a stray that wandered in from the cold city when the temperature dropped. Martha and I swore up and down that we wouldn’t let him stay and he made fools of us. He decided he was going to stay and that was it, the humans who lived here would just have to deal with it. 

After a few pets, he wandered off, probably to go lay in the clean laundry and get fur all over it. I finished up breakfast and then went to get ready for the day. Grabbing my clothes from the dresser in my room, my eye caught the old fob watch that sat on the top. I couldn’t for the life of me remember where I had gotten it or why I kept it but I did. Martha had shrugged it off when I asked her if she remembered, saying it must have been John’s but I knew that wasn’t right. It was mine but I couldn’t tell you the significance, only that I could never throw it out. I shook my head and left it be, I had to get ready for my day, an important day of Zoom University - yay! grad school.

\----------------------

Classes were a chore, they always were anymore, one of the effects of Zoom University. As a grad student, I was also a teacher’s assistant, which in actuality meant that I taught the whole class. Dr. Anders was renowned in physics but his teaching skills always left a little to the imagination. He was one of those teachers who never answered questions and when they did they made you feel stupid about asking. I had made a point to try and field the questions to me first, I knew what an awful professor could do to a semester. 

“Alright guys, email me with any questions you have as you think of them and I will get to them as quickly as I can. Remember your thesis paper is due in two weeks and you should definitely work on it early, I remember when I had the same project and procrastinated.” I said as I started to close the Zoom meeting. 

I got a few laughs in response and then the student’s started leaving, everyone giving me a different variation of goodbye. I had an hour before the next class was supposed to start and decided to get some movement in, and maybe a snack. I wandered into the kitchen and stared into the pantry. I glanced at the clock and saw it hit 12 noon, I started the countdown in my head. 

_ 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 _

_ Ring-ring-ring _

My cell phone rang, Martha’s name flashing on the screen. I let out a sigh and answered.   
“You are supposed to be saving people, not checking on me every 3 hours,” I said instead of a greeting. I could feel her roll her eyes through the phone. 

“I’m not checking on you, I’m checking on Jack.” She said, not missing a beat. 

I looked over to the window seal and the lump of fur asleep on it. He hadn’t moved in the last 2 hours and seemed to be very deeply asleep. “He is dead to the world on the window seal,” I said, humoring her. 

“As he is supposed to be, cats need their sleep.” She said, “How do you feel, any pain or anything else?”

“I’m fine Martha, Dr. Johnson said I was fine and there is nothing to worry about. You like her, you work with her.” I reminded her as I moved to the fridge.

“Yeah, I know. I’m just worried about crazy circumstances.” She said quietly, more to herself than me. 

“Nothing is crazy about this pregnancy, everything has gone very normally and the baby boy is completely healthy. You’re just anxious about becoming an aunt, I’m the one about to be a mother, and shouldn’t you be calming me down.” I said as I decided that I was gonna have an apple and peanut butter for lunch. 

“If only you knew,” he said cryptically. “Just another month,” She said under her breath.

“Ok, I’m having an apple and peanut butter for lunch and maybe something more later, go back to saving people. If you are really worried send Tim over.” I said over the conversation. 

“Alright, alright, bye.” She said in a disheartened tone. 

“Bye, love,” I said as I started washing my apple. 

Once my apple was washed and cut, I sat back down in front of my computer. I had some emails to answer and some grading to do before my next class, only 40 minutes left until it started. 

I opened the first one, “Dear Ms. Henriks, I’m having trouble understanding the directions….” I let out a sigh, Dr. Anders really needed to work on being more concise.

\-------------------------

Two more classes later, I was done for the day. I had set my schedule up so that my teaching classes were all on the same two days. It was a lot of work in the moment but it allowed me time on my own for my school work. I took a glance at the unread emails and my eyes widened, there were 35. Better take a break before I started that, I was sure to get fed up. I glanced at the clock, almost 4:30. I’m surprised Tim hadn’t come to che…

_ Knock, Knock, Knock _

Guess I spoke too soon. I got up and walked over to the door, the young blond man was standing there. He was short and small, but he made up for his small stature with a big brain and an even bigger heart. He worked from home and didn’t really have anyone here in New York, we had become closer friends during the pandemic, his idea that he needed to look after me.

“Wow, she made it 4 and a half hours before sending you over. I think that’s a new record, how ya doing Tim?” I said as I left the door open for him to walk in behind me. 

“You know she is just worried for you, right? She does it out of love, Tyler.” He said as he closed the door. Jack’s head shot up and he came over to see his favorite man. He did figure 8’s around Tim’s feet and Tim bent down to give him some love.

“I know, Tim. But I’m a big girl, I know how to survive for a couple of hours on my own. I won’t be living with someone for the rest of my life, one day she is gonna find a family of her own and move out. I’ll have to learn to survive alone, me and the baby.” I said as I eased down to the couch. 

He had heard this all before, he was the mediator between me and Martha when she got a little too overprotective. The last two months she had been even worse than before, worse than right after John died. And for the life of me I couldn’t figure out why, she had been fine then one day she was nervous all the time, checking up on me all the time, all on top of her job at the hospital, people dying all the time, the pandemic ravaging the world. Her meeting Tim had been the only reprieve because she shared the duties now. 

He sat down on the couch with me, “That doesn’t seem like it’s gonna happen anytime soon, just let her be here for you.”

“Yeah, I know. Wanna watch something with me while I avoid responding to emails for a while.” I offered, spying the remote on the coffee table. 

“Sure, what’s on?” He shrugged. He reached forward and grabbed the remote, handing it to me.

“Why let’s find out. Shall we?” I said flipping on the TV. 

\------------------------------

**Martha**

I did the same thing every morning for the last two months, I played my part. Made breakfast for her, because I knew she wouldn’t eat without the TARDIS reminding her, especially now with the fake life she had created for her. Losing her husband in a car accident, I’m not sure if that was better or worse than the real thing. I got dressed in my scrubs, piled my new colorful braids on my head, and got ready to go to the hospital. The braids had been an indulgence while we were here in the future, that and a protection measure, The Family had only seen my back but now if I had long, colorful hair that would completely ignore me if they found us. This future was so bad, thousands dying every day from a pandemic, and all I could do was try and make them comfortable. 

As I left, I knocked on Tim’s door to let him know she was on her own. Tim had come to me the first week we had been here with questions, he was special he said, he could see time differently than other people. He asked me what the box was that sat in the alley, and then I knew he was trustworthy. If the TARDIS had let him see her then he would be an ally while we hid from The Family. 

I made my way to the hospital and entered the fray, working at the hospital now was crazier than it had ever been, my hospital was edging on its capacity limit and I dreaded the day we had to start turning people away. I saw my fellow doctor Jenny Grey and said hi, she asked if I wanted to join her for a coffee after our shift and I nodded ‘yes’, I knew Tim would be there for Rose, sorry Tyler, now. Getting used to calling her Tyler had been one of the hardest parts of our stay here, at least the TARDIS had chosen to give her her last name as her first name, not some random name that I wouldn’t be able to adapt to. 

A blur of hours, death, and sickness later my shift was over. Jenny and I met in the locker room, changed into uninfected scrubs, and changed our masks before walking out together. I sent a text to Tyler telling her that I would be a little later than normal. 

There was a coffee shop near the hospital with all outdoor seatings that gave health care workers a discount if they showed their badge and so Jenny and I each got a coffee and found a place to sit outside, it was cold now that the sun had set and winter had started coming in. 

“I like the cold just like anyone else but boy do I miss sitting inside when it’s cold,” I said as I clutched my hot coffee close. 

“Here, here!” Jenny said with a smile. “How many today?” She asked, changing the subject.

“5, you?” I said dourly.

“6 deaths, myself. It’s an outright shame, people are more concerned with politics than the safety of the country and humanity. If people would just listen to the doctors, then we might be able to get through this faster.”

“Oh I know, a couple of months here at this hospital and I can’t imagine having to work through it ever again. God forbid we ever have another pandemic, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself.” I said, well aware that I would live through this again most likely. Rose had told me all about fixed points, things that happen no matter what you do to stop them. 

“Oh, I can’t imagine. Maybe we would be a little more prepared this time, you can only hope.” Jenny said. “Isn’t your part-time contract coming up? One more month right?”

“Yeah, I’ll be moving on to a different hospital, probably a different borough next month,” I said keeping up with the facade that I had created. A traveling doctor, offering services for short times. 

“Gosh, you must love seeing all the different hospitals. Will you stay in New York?” Jenny asked dreamily.

“Maybe, it depends on my roommate Tyler. She is my best friend and we are pretty stuck together, it depends if she wants to leave anytime soon.” I said putting the blame on my unseen friend, no one at the hospital really knew me, that was the way I had planned it so it wasn’t a surprise. I looked up into the night sky, not a star in sight, New York being too bright. 

Suddenly, there was a flash of green across the sky. One that didn’t look like a meteorite, plane, or drone. My heart clenched, scared, they couldn’t have found us already. Right?

“Did you see that Jenny?” I asked her.

“See what?” She asked looking up from her phone. 

“Nevermind, it must have been a drone or something,” I said waving it off. At least on the outside, inside I was freaking out. 

“Anyway, I gotta get going, I have the early shift tomorrow,” Jenny said standing up. “What about you?”

“Tomorrow is my day off believe it or not. I’m gonna stay home all day and do nothing.” I said thankful for the time, I would use it to investigate the light. I could get Tim to stay with Tyler for a little bit. 

“Oh enjoy it,” Jenny said as she started walking away. “See you later, Martha.” She waved. 

I was quick to get a move on myself, the apartment the TARDIS has arranged for us not far from the hospital. When I got there I made a quick detour around the back alley to check on the blue box. There she was nestled between a garbage can and the maintenance door of the building. I didn’t go in though, I would in the morning, and then I would look for answers for the light I had seen. Though I hoped I was overreacting. 

When I got upstairs, Rose-sorry Tyler- was asleep on the couch and Tim was making dinner in the kitchen. I quietly set my stuff down on the table and walked over. 

“How long has she been asleep?” I asked, “I can make dinner, you don’t have to.”

“She passed out pretty soon after I got here, I think she did some overtime for the students today. Anything interesting happen today for you?” He said as he kept control of the kitchen.

“Other than people dying? No.” I said as I sat down at the table, knowing he wouldn’t let me help. “Well, there was the weird light.”

Tim stopped moving and turned to look at me, “Was it green?”

“If I say yes will everything go to shit?” I asked nervously.

He nodded solemnly. 

I felt myself deflate a bit, we had been so close. Only a few more weeks and they would have died off. Of course, it wouldn’t work out. All of it for nothing, an echo of her scream from the Chameleon Arch flashed through my mind and I flinched. 

“Should we open it?” I asked him. 

“That’s up to you, do you think we can fly under the radar even if they are here?” Tim asked, leaving it up to me. 

Before I could decide though, a groan came from the couch. We looked over to see Tyler stretch and push herself up into a sitting position. She was really out of it, rubbing her eyes and yawning for a moment. 

“That smells good, what is it?” She said, noticing us in the kitchen.

“That is dinner, Ladies,” Tim said with his inherent perfect timing, perfect time senses. Everything was ready just as she woke up, I envied it a bit but I also didn’t at the same time. It would be hard to always know more than everyone.

Tyler waddled over and sat down as Time served the food, it looked delicious. Chicken fettuccine and some green beans to go along. My mouth watered at the smell and I barely waited for the food to be on my plate before I dug in. The worry about the family, the fob watch, Rose/Tyler lost in the creamy goodness of dinner for the time being.

\------------------------

**Two Months Before**

Rose and I ran, and the not the fun kind of running that I had become accustomed to. This kind was running for our lives while aliens shoot lasers at us. I was really glad for the connection she and the TARDIS shared because the doors were open before we even got there, my key obsolete around my neck. 

As we ran into the consul room the aliens were still firing, Rose shouted, “Get down!” and I didn’t hesitate, I hit the deck with my hands covering my head. I heard the door close behind me and rolled back up to see what was happening. Rose was already running for the consul and I jumped to get out of her way, my limited training in flying would only get in the way right now. 

“Did they see you, Martha?” She asked me as she ran frantically around.

“I don’t know,” I said, trying to figure out where this was going. 

“You need to know, did they see you?” She asked harshly as she pulled the “launch lever” before turning to me.

“I was too busy running!” I said trying to think back, “If anything just the back of my head.”

“Did they see your face?” Rose asked, I noticed her eyes were glowing golden a bit, her power boiling over in her rush to get us out of here.

I stood there playing it all back in my head. “No, they couldn’t have,” I said firmly.

“Good, that's good.” She said stepping back before she looked up at the ceiling in shock. “What?”

I knew that she wasn’t talking to me and held on a moment as they talked to each other. Whatever the TARDIS was telling Rose, she didn’t like it. The TARDIS didn’t seem to either considering the flashing lights and angry hums coming from her hull. 

“Gah! They’re following us!” Rose said, this time to me. She swung one of the monitors around and read the circular words. Whatever it told her, reinforced her anger. She ripped her cloaking jacket off, her 6-month baby belly popping out of nowhere.

“How? We have a time machine.” I asked her aghast, what could track the TARDIS.

“Stolen tech, some poor time agent’s vortex manipulator. They can easily follow us wherever we go.” She explained shortly as she input controls far too fast for me to even follow, her hands glowing golden a bit. “All across time and space, never stopping till they get me.”

“Okay, lota questions for later I know now isn’t the time. What now?” I asked, still helpless about what we could do. 

“Well, there is one thing. I’ve read about it in my studies but it's supposed to be a last resort kind of thing. Who knows even if it would work on me, it was designed for Gallifreyans. But if we don’t let them die out on their own….they’ll hunt me forever, not to mind my baby. And I don’t particularly want to have to run and hide every time they get close, or what him to have to either.” Rose said.

Halfway through her explanation, she stopped talking to me and more to herself. But I listened anyway, whatever idea she had it was a big one and maybe not a good one. The TARDIS was humming back and forth along with her, it seemed to be giving her its opinion. Which was better than what I was doing, just standing there waiting for her to explain it more. 

“I think I have to do it,” Rose said stronger than before. She looked up at me, the gold fading from her eyes. I could see a ting of fear hiding in her eyes and it made me shiver. If Rose was scared then what the absolute hell was going to happen, Rose never gets scared. She is a literal superhero with powers and immortality and now she was scared. 

“Martha, do you trust me?” She asked seriously. 

“Of course, I do,” I said quickly. I couldn’t leave her in doubt very long, whatever was happening she needed me and I would be here for her.

“Everything will depend on you, you need to keep me safe, keep me from being caught when I won’t even know I’m being hunted.” She said turning away and reaching under the consul. 

“Keep you safe how? What do you mean you won’t know?” I asked getting even more nervous. The more confused I was getting the more nervous I was. Rose was normally very good at explaining things and the fact that she was glossing over a lot now, wasn’t helping.

She pulled an old Fob watch out from under the consul. “When it’s time, take this, this watch, Martha, this watch will be me.” She turned away and went to another part of the consul.

I chased after her, “Ok, protect the watch that will be you. What? Still completely lost.”

“Those creatures are hunting us, the best kind of hunters too. They can sniff out anyone and once they find them they take their life force. And I am one of a kind, immortal, they could live on forever with my life force. They can track me down across all of time and space.” She explained as she messed with controls I had never seen her touch before. 

“Right, okay. That’s all bad, anything good happening right now?" I asked her.

“They didn’t see either of our faces, they know my smell but you were too far away and they didn’t see you.” She said pulling another switch. “And their lifespans are running out, 3 months left then they will die of natural causes.”

“But you just said they can track us down,” I said pointing out the obvious.

“That’s why I am gonna do it, the fob watch and the whole shebang. I have to stop being me, change my smell back to regular old human. Hide in plain sight and fly right under their radar. Be human again.” Rose said standing tall, her hands on her protruding belly. 

“Uh, What?” I asked. 

She reached over to the consul and pushed a button. From the ceiling something started lowering, I had never seen it there before but that’s what happens on a sentient time ship. It kinda looked like a headband but much more dangerous. She looked up at it, the fear back in her eyes. 

“When I read about this, I thought the manual was joking. Let’s hope it works.” Rose said as she wrung her hands together in a moment of nervousness. 

“What is it?” I asked as it reached our eye line.

“It’s called the Chameleon Arch. It rewrites the wearer’s biology, changing every cell in the body. Well, that’s what it would do to a Gallifreyan, me well, unsure at the moment. I’ve set it to human.” Rose said as she moved closer, the fob watch in hand. 

She put it into the Arch and it clicked right into place. “The TARDIS will take care of everything. She’ll invent a life story for me, find a setting, and integrate. Because we, the TARDIS and I, are connected, she is doing the same for you but you’ll have to improvise since you won’t know what it is, immediately. When everything is done, don’t worry about the TARDIS, she will go to emergency power and hide away somewhere. She’ll be fine waiting for us while the Family dies off.” She explained as she fitted it to her head. 

“You don’t know what it will do to you? And you are gonna do it anyway? Isn’t that super dangerous, won’t it hurt?” I asked completely freaking out. “The Family?”

“Dangerous, yes. But it’s safer than what could happen if we don’t and Sister and I have figured that it should react similarly to if I was a Gallifreyan. And yeah, it’ll likely hurt but right now it’s all we have and it needs to be done. I’ll be fine in the long run. Oh, sorry, that’s what the creatures are called, no idea why it’s very vague.”

“Okay, what do I do?” I asked. 

“Wait, watch. Make sure you keep track of the fob watch and play your role, you should be able to figure it out. Now, go get a chair from the kitchen, I’ll probably pass out and need something to fall down too.” She said fidgeting with the controls on the Arch. 

I did as she said, returning quickly and maneuvering the chair behind her. She took a deep breath, gave me a smile before she turned a dial on the side of the Arch. The pain must have been instant because she started screaming immediately, I knew the sound would haunt me forever after this. 

The TARDIS’s light flickered wildly, I wouldn’t have been surprised if it was taking on some of the pain she felt. I stared on in horror at Rose’s body as it convulsed and she screamed. The buzzing from the Arch almost as loud as Rose’s screaming herself. The whole thing felt like it took hours but when it was done I knew it had only been a few moments. 

Rose was right, she did pass out and luckily landed in the chair. I was glad I had grabbed one with armrests to bracket her form in the chair. Now the arch hung there useless and a part of me wanted to hit it, to never see it again but I knew better. 

The TARDIS let out a sad hum before she started making other noises. Somewhere in the middle of all of this, we had landed somewhere. Where we would hide for the next few months, I was curious to know but before that, the consul buzzed. I looked over to see a pile of stuff on the pilot’s bench that hadn’t been there before. 

A suitcase, full of what I assumed was Rose’s stuff since she wouldn’t know to get stuff from her room. It was bright pink and I wondered where it had come from, I had never seen Rose in anything different than dark colors with white mixed in. 

A different jacket was lying there, this one large and obviously a maternity jacket.

Next to that were two sets of keys, a new phone that looked like Rose’s future phone only it had a red case (it was for me I’m sure since I still had mine from 2007). Two small pieces of fabric that I couldn’t see what they were from this far away. A small stack of papers was there and what looked to be a small bottle of hand sanitizer. 

I looked over at Rose, the residual pain had left her body and she was just lying there, still unconscious. What did I do, bring her outside or would she just wander out on her own when she woke up and forget about the weird place she had woken up. I looked up to ask the TARDIS but only then did I notice the lights had dimmed, the most light coming from the consul under glow. 

“Right, emergency power, no help there. I should pack a bag, I don’t know when I’ll be able to come back. If she is still here when I get back, I guess I should move her out of here and to wherever we are, that’s a good medium.” I said before turning around and going down the dark hallway. Luckily my room hadn’t moved in all the craziness of the last 15 minutes and was still close to the front.

30 minutes later I walked back up to the front, suitcase in hand to find the chair empty and the stuff on the bench that had been for Rose gone. 

“Guess she wandered out on her own, now I gotta figure out myself,” I said walking over to the bench. The keys and phone were easy to figure out and I shoved them in my pocket. What gave me pause was the fabric mask, it looked like the medical masks we wore at the hospital. “Why do I need a mask, much less a fabric one?” I questioned aloud. 

I shook my head and hung the mask from one ear, I’m sure the TARDIS knew what she was doing when she gave it to me. I looked at the stack of papers, it was chock full of information, including but not limited to my new address, the date September 13, 2020, and a copied newspaper. What was the Coronavirus?

“Guess there is nowhere like the present to find out,” I said as I grabbed everything else and made my way to the door. “She says as she walks out into the future year 2020,” I said sardonically to myself. 

Outside we were in an alleyway, that was part of a big city. That I could tell from the noise across the street. Taped to one of the walls of the alley were numerous signs all saying some variation of “Mask up,” I took that as a sign to put the mask on properly and hooked it around my other ear, covering my nose and mouth like we’d been taught in med school. I looked back at the newspaper, it was the New York Times, guess the TARDIS really likes New York. This is the 3rd time I have been to a version of New York. A quick glance around told me that the alleyway was for my new building, which was really well planned. 

“Guess it’s time to figure this out,” I said as I made my way to the front of the building.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

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